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Queen
Mab
by
Paul Jump
The
light flees the
earth and the
glowering clouds
rumble,
As icy-cool torrents
begin forth to
tumble;
I make for the
shelter extended
to me
By a tall, broad,
majestic, high-perched
cedar tree.
The moss-cushioned
outcrop of smooth-rounded
stone
On which I recline
myself, thoughtful,
alone,
Affords me a truly
magnificent view
Of countless wild
wonders in every
known hue.
My
eyes drink in,
first, the diverse
rhododendrons’
Exotic blooms
of golds, saffrons
and crimsons,
Then to the valley-born
lilies’
pure white,
Studding the gloom
like stars in
the night.
I stare at the
blue of wild Hyacinth’s
bells
Chiming with lilac
in steep-sided
dells,
Last, to the greens
of the grasses
and ferns,
My overawed sight,
to recuperate,
turns.
The
circles that on
the dark water’s
face dance
Soon lull my mind
into a visionary
trance:
Slowly, like Queen
Mab, you glide
down a stream
Your bark fairy-made
from the shell
of a dream.
Enshrouded in
white, you sit,
pearly serene,
Counterfeited
by the smooth-rippling
sheen
Then, from your
throne on that
deep-flowing brook,
Into my wide eyes
you cast your
jet look.
From
such rapt enchantment
I’m rudely
aroused
By Sol, blazing
through a small
gash in the clouds;
Away Jove’s
dark, trident-armed
hoards promptly
march
Under fair Iris’s
triumphal arch.
Ah, if I, to its
end, were to hurriedly
wind
No vast stash
of gold could
I wish there to
find;
A glimpse of your
pale face has
countless more
worth
Than all the bright
jewels on the
face of the Earth.
I
rise and trudge
on through the
desolate wood,
Dragging my feet
through the fresh,
clinging mud,
Relishing not
the mellifluous
cries
Of birds as they
rise, once more,
into the skies.
Wandering through
the massed, rain-varnished
flowers
Adorning wild
Nature’s
most beauteous
bowers
I rejoice not
in their glories
anew:
I see only the
lingering image
of you.
©
2006 by
Paul Jump
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