The Immortal Summons
We came out of a land
Rich with harmony and sacrifice
We built legends and legacies
And threw fire from our fists
Unto the firmament
We brought down gods upon our heads
We sought shelter in their arrogance
Devoured our fear like ripened fruit
And this is how we nourished our souls
Grew teeth in our throats to imprison them
Behind voices made lame by our dinner
Our hearts grew thinner
And our chests spanned wide
To shield and conceal our labouring breath
Convinced of our impending death
But our souls
Trapped in our breasts
Heaved through our skin
The immortal summons
To life
© H. Hennenburg, 20 August 2019
Joyfully linking to Poets United.
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2019 H. Hennenburg
Vivid and affecting images. Can’t help but admire resilience of those who defied the odds. The last stanza makes for a hopeful ending.
Thank you, Khaya. Grateful that we all are more resilient than we realize.
Wow! This is packed with drama and sacrifice. Love it!
Throwing fire from our fists – strong womanhood! Our souls always do rise up, I have observed, and that is a very good thing.
And yet you give hope at the end. There is always hope.
There’s a psychologist — dead now — Julian Jaynes, who theorized that human god-consciousness evolved from a schizophrenic tendency of the evolving brain — the voices that we hear in our head, surely they are divine … Eventually as societies and then civilizations formed, the role of god-arbiter fell to the priest/priestess and king/queen. But the voices echo there in the individual mind, or in some brains, anyway, evidencing the power of religion into this day. Nuff said — I loved reading here how the gods come to us through an “immortal summons” which comes not from on high but within. Each of us part of that pantheon. A fire which we need poetry for, for sure … well done.
This makes me think that leaving the paradise was way better than staying in the end… maybe the only way to enjoy life is to know death.
I love the vividness of this creation story, the way it shows the divine bursting out the imagination, becoming…
What a strong poem. I can feel it build from beginning to its climax. The last stanza really packs a punch and makes me want to turn right around and read the poem once again! Wow.
This is incredibly potent!!
A powerfully rendered … awesomely imaged piece. Wonderful writing!
It is so important to have belief in ourselves. Your poem demonstraes this so well. We must not waste the life we have been given.
The line that grabs at me is the one about “seeking shelter in their arrogance.” It makes me think of the times I’ve heard people proclaim, “it is not me, but god who says, x,y, z” from the other side of a bullhorn. But the ending gives me hope that a soul, given enough space to hear for itself, will understand that we were not created merely to fear.
Powerful …
Wonderful, the whole poem full of that life force.