Survivor poems
Posted: Nov 10, 2016 3:07 am
Please excuse my blowing my own trumpet, but I had to go back into the old forum to copy the originals onto my hard drive as the new computer hasn't got the same word program, so my own copies were illegible.
These were written 11 years ago, before LWW was released. The first was inspired by a comment by Colin Duriez, suggesting a different way Lewis might have told some of the story - by a less central character such as Alberta telling the story. The second poem followed when it was ready, after friends on both this forum and Into The Wardrobe asked for it. There is a third, for Susan, who is the third survivor - for, as you can see, these are set after the events of The Last Battle.
Alberta
At times I think a sound has touched his ear -
Eyes glint, a tiny smile moves his mouth
I start to move, in shreds of hope, then halt;
For Harold’s mind, gone seven summers back,
Sees light and joy upon our child’s face
Where only bored conceit had sat before.
His private journal, often re-read now,
Abandoned petty tiffs and classroom scores,
And spoke of valour, noble quests and truth,
(Bizarrely) dragons, swords and magic powers.
Oh, this was not the Eustace we had raised,
The level-headed pragmatist we’d trained -
This changeling smiled in place of sullen scowls,
Played chess with no complaining when it rained!
When scandal closed his school (Head “had a breakdown”),
He pleaded that his cousin’s was the best;
All holidays they talked of lamps and lions,
And visited old Kirke with all the rest.
These seven pleasant years were an enigma -
The Nature/Nurture question goes unsolved;
The Train Crash question “WHY?” - we dare not utter,
Lest Someone UnTame leaps into our world.
HAROLD
She thinks I do not notice reddened eyes
Or hear the muffled weeping from her bed,
She keeps an air of calm control by day.
I catch her little glances, covert, scared.
I wonder that Alberta cheats this way -
Her sister would be grieving honestly
If we were gone and she were left behind;
But long ago we chose divergent paths.
Our boy was freed from out of date conventions,
Learned sciences, geography and facts,
Competitive and cool, no false emotions,
Preparing for success in adult life.
I daily run the film of younger Eustace
Across my mental screen. The pictures fade,
Replaced by images of someone altered,
I cannot tell which one I miss the most.
My son is gone, with all he could have taught me,
In dreams each night he speaks of faith and hope.
The Lion beside him looks into my memory.
I wake, alone and shaking, as he roars.
These were written 11 years ago, before LWW was released. The first was inspired by a comment by Colin Duriez, suggesting a different way Lewis might have told some of the story - by a less central character such as Alberta telling the story. The second poem followed when it was ready, after friends on both this forum and Into The Wardrobe asked for it. There is a third, for Susan, who is the third survivor - for, as you can see, these are set after the events of The Last Battle.
Alberta
At times I think a sound has touched his ear -
Eyes glint, a tiny smile moves his mouth
I start to move, in shreds of hope, then halt;
For Harold’s mind, gone seven summers back,
Sees light and joy upon our child’s face
Where only bored conceit had sat before.
His private journal, often re-read now,
Abandoned petty tiffs and classroom scores,
And spoke of valour, noble quests and truth,
(Bizarrely) dragons, swords and magic powers.
Oh, this was not the Eustace we had raised,
The level-headed pragmatist we’d trained -
This changeling smiled in place of sullen scowls,
Played chess with no complaining when it rained!
When scandal closed his school (Head “had a breakdown”),
He pleaded that his cousin’s was the best;
All holidays they talked of lamps and lions,
And visited old Kirke with all the rest.
These seven pleasant years were an enigma -
The Nature/Nurture question goes unsolved;
The Train Crash question “WHY?” - we dare not utter,
Lest Someone UnTame leaps into our world.
HAROLD
She thinks I do not notice reddened eyes
Or hear the muffled weeping from her bed,
She keeps an air of calm control by day.
I catch her little glances, covert, scared.
I wonder that Alberta cheats this way -
Her sister would be grieving honestly
If we were gone and she were left behind;
But long ago we chose divergent paths.
Our boy was freed from out of date conventions,
Learned sciences, geography and facts,
Competitive and cool, no false emotions,
Preparing for success in adult life.
I daily run the film of younger Eustace
Across my mental screen. The pictures fade,
Replaced by images of someone altered,
I cannot tell which one I miss the most.
My son is gone, with all he could have taught me,
In dreams each night he speaks of faith and hope.
The Lion beside him looks into my memory.
I wake, alone and shaking, as he roars.