Hero’s Journey

Mountain Morning 
 
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.

Winter Trees

Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

48 thoughts on “Hero’s Journey”

  1. 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.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. You, sir, the poet emerges as hero. The piece hums with perfect pitch, true to classic form. I dig fantasy and mythical poetics.

    Liked by 2 people

  13. 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. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  15. 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!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. “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..:)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. 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!

      Like

  22. 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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  23. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. 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.

    Liked by 2 people

  26. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. 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.

    Liked by 2 people

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