.
Holding the wide world in the hollow of his
Hand, that role formerly accorded gods,
Yet keeping that hand open as a heart,
The magician king knows the shipwreck
Will happen, hears seas crashing, hysterical
Screams, final splitting of beams, feels victims' tears --
The whole spectacle recapitulated
By Miranda, who's seen it from farther off
Than we, stationed in the conditional mood --
Yet too knows all now not only must be
But will be well, in fact perhaps always was,
For the eyewitness' transfixed iteration
Seemed even at the time to be missing
Something essential, some element of trust.
Shipwreck at Roatán, Honduras: photo by Chris Vaughan, 2007
Shipwreck, Netherlands: photo by Maurice, 2007
Shipwreck, Netherlands: photo by Maurice, 2007
2 comments:
Sweet sensitive Miranda inside her shell. Not even overprotective Prospero will prevent her from learning about the real world... some day. And yet, what will be best for her?
Lucy,
You know how it is about shipwrecks and their aftermath, there is no way of predicting. Life and experience bring so many sea-changes in the imaginal dimension.
O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in't!
O, I have suffered with those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel...dash'd all to pieces!
The sun shone on sails, eyes, pebbles, anything,
And the high green hill sits always by the sea...
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