scattered flock of birds –
in the eyes of the doe
a star flickers
Luminiţa Ignea
The poem stands out by its elliptical discretion. Just two effects are evoked: the scattering of the flock, and, figuratively only, the death of the doe. The reader is thus being suggested a common cause of both events: a gunshot that scared the birds away and killed the doe.
The doe’s death is evoked obliquely, but objectively, by capturing in her eyes, which have remained open, a vision identical to that of a Romanian ballad: “at my wedding a star fell” (in the famous Romanian ballad, a young shepherd talks about his hypothetical death during a fight with two other envious shepherds, and asks his magic sheep not to tell his mother of the falling star, which according to folk customs indicates death).
The approach is a reserved one, only recording the facts, avoiding any emotional subjective interpretation. The ballad motif is not one that harms in any way the poem’s objectivity. The fallen, flickering star does not mean emotional crying but a sober cosmic ritual.
(Corneliu Traian Atanasiu)
No comments:
Post a Comment