Tame the Dragon tossed by Moon and Sun.
Flames of falsehood torch dried truth to ash.
Defend us from ourselves until you've won.
Stop the raging waves before we crash.
Flames of falsehood torch dried truth to ash.
Keep your soul prepared like a sharp sword.
Stop the raging waves before we crash.
Beware what glitters in the Dragon’s hoard.
Keep your soul prepared like a sharp sword.
Others braver than you fought but lost.
Beware what glitters in the Dragon’s hoard.
Gather only pain as worth the cost.
Others braver than you fought but lost.
Defend us from ourselves until you've won.
Gather only pain as worth the cost.
Tame the Dragon tossed by Moon and Sun.
Linked to dVerse Poetic Forms. Gina is hosting this month with the pantoum. The idea for this poem comes from M. Scott Peck’s Further Along the Road Less Traveled where he discusses “The Myth of the Hero”. Here is a quote from page 111-2:
The integration of our masculinity and our femininity is achieved very painfully. It is the struggle that the child goes through in the myth in the course of his or her growing up. But if we can go through this struggle of integration and learn how to approach the same problem with both our right brain and our left brain simultaneously, with both our masculinity and our femininity, then we too can be heroes. We too will be able to solve problems that the world has not yet been able to solve – a world that is desperately in need of heroes and solutions.
this was brilliant Frank! the final stanza was an amazing summary of thought and guidance moving forward. using the Dragon as metaphor was powerful and relatable in many cultures. i do think your last stanza was such a classic pantoum closing.
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I am glad you liked it, Gina! I find forms with repeating lines difficult, but I do enjoying them. Thank you!
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the repeating lines added a lot of stress to me too! glad you had some fun with them , you did excellent taming them
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Excellent effort Frank!
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Thank you, Peter!
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Simply brilliant! Deep and penetrating, as well as flawlessly executed! Bravo!
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Thank you, Frank!
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My pleasure 😇
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This is a very deep concept that you have tackled so skillfully and brilliantly!
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Thank you, Pragalbha!
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Interesting reflections!
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Thank you, Rosemary!
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You, sir, the poet emerges as hero. The piece hums with perfect pitch, true to classic form. I dig fantasy and mythical poetics.
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I am glad you liked it, Glenn! Thank you!
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Glenn: Lilian here. Read Frank’s post again, with today’s political situation in mind! 🙂
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I echo what everyone else has already said. This piece has a wholeness to it that is impressive.
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Thank you, Jade!
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You are very welcome.
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You kept well to style and seem to have been reading some heavy medieval material before writing (mixed with New Age stuff, of course) smile.
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Thank you, Sabio!
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Excellent poem, Frank. I hope that we’ll never forget out heroes when they take off their uniforms and even when they lost their handsome looks.
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Reblogged this on Reena Saxena.
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Heroic, Frank. You’ve taken this to a different level.
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Gather only pain as worth the cost. I like to think it will all be worth the cost, but I know some is in vain. Nice Pantoum Frank!
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Well done, Frank. And although, according to your notes after the post, you did not mean it this way….I immediately took it as allegorical to our political situation today. Well….as I’ve always said, once the words are down, it’s up to the reader how to interpret them. I also think they’re quite well done using the more literal mythological meaning. 🙂
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Bravo Frank! It’s been a long time since I read Scott Peck, but his work is so inspiring. Your poem really illustrates the hero’s journey.
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Frank, this rings current, relevant, and urgent – and is a brilliant tale as well, fashioned tautly over the Pantoum framework. Wonderfully executed! Most worthy to heed!
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Interesting take on the pantoum, Frank. There’s a sort of medieval-modern feel–like Bergman’s Seventh Seal. And as others have mentioned, in the current world, it seems this is an admonition to be heeded.
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This was a wonderful read! I especially loved your first and last lines……..
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The form seems to be all about circling between the beginning and the end. Thank you, Sherry!
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Beware what glitters in the dragon’s hoard…good advice!
This form works well for a narrative. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe!
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“The integration of our masculinity and our femininity is achieved very painfully. It is the struggle that the child goes through in the myth in the course of his or her growing up. But if we can go through this struggle of integration and learn how to approach the same problem with both our right brain and our left brain simultaneously, with both our masculinity and our femininity, then we too can be heroes. We too will be able to solve problems that the world has not yet been able to solve – a world that is desperately in need of heroes and solutions.”
-M. Scott Peck’s
Further Along the Road Less Traveled; Quote from page 111-2
Pain and Pleasure Masculine and Feminine Dark and Light
Yin and Yang When Left and Right Become Center Point
All Within Quantum Metaphor of Two 1’s Joining
Hands Left and Right Hemisphere’s
of the Brain Move From 11 to H
Bridging the Divide as
Standing tall 8
iNFiNiTY
Beyond Us
in Grace and LoVE NoW
As This Foundation Springs
Strength And Will Fearless Now
Unconditional Love Incarnate Human Being now…
No Longer Dependent On Other Sources of Love To Give
And Share Whole Within Never Separate Again to all others
and the Rest of Nature True in Light and Dark too.. Thanks
Frank for the Excellent Quote and Resource You Bring along
With Your Poetic Words as True When Left and Right Hemispheres
of Earth Follow this Individual WHoLESoME Pursuit in East and West
Longitudes and North and South Latitudes Joining Hands as Self-Actualized
Humans Passing through the Challenges of the Archetypal Journey of the Hero Now
As truly Online Provides the Avenue for the Earth to Potentially Move from Two 1’s
As 11 Becomes H Standing Tall Beyond 8 Infinity Standing on Two Feet Now
As All Four Corners of the Earth of
Human Beings Transforms into
Home for
Love
To Blossom
As Thorns and
Flowers of RoSE NoW.
Smiles One Will Hope at Least..:)
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The Earth should be home for love.
I have been reading this book by Peck for some weeks now. One day I’ll finish it, but I hope it doesn’t end. Thank you, Fred!
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Your wording is magnificent in this. Love the use of the dragon. You have pantoum power!
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Thank you, Sara!
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This poem bites!!! Such intensity wrapped in metaphors and imagery! Woohoo. Epic line: Beware what glitters in the Dragon’s hoard.
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I have to keep warning myself about what glitters.
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I haven’t read any M. Scott Peck but I enjoyed the quote you shared, Frank and like the idea of everyone having the ability to become heroes through the integration of our masculinity and our femininity. I also enjoyed your dragon tossed by Moon and Sun, and the way it consists of statements and imperatives. I’m intrigued by the line ‘Beware what glitters in the Dragon’s hoard’.
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I see that Dragon’s hoard as distractions from continuing on the hero’s journey. I just started reading Peck over the past year. Thank you, Kim!
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It certainly has a mythical quality and the Pantoum repetition helps echoes the journey and battle. I find this line very interesting ‘Defend us from ourselves until you’ve won’ Thanks for the explanation too. Certainly we need a different kind of masculinity and hero that embraces the feminine too.
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I’m heartened by the insights this pantoum offer. I see in the comments many attribute mythical qualities to it but as Lilian has mentioned, it points to a very real and unfortunate reality America and the rest of the world is facing. We live in dangerous times.
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I agree. We are in dangerous times. Thank you, Petru!
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Oh! Thank you for adding the quote, your poem gets another layer with it. The struggle is never-ending.
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I am glad the quote helped. Thank you!
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Well, you captured my attention with the very mention of a dragon tossed by sun and moon. This poem has a mystical feel and I wonder if that sword will protect or slay in days to come.
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I appreciate the backgrounder note Frank. I love the imagery of the dragon and this line stood out for me:
Flames of falsehood torch dried truth to ash.
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Thank you, Grace!
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