Saturday, April 21, 2007

Grim Reaper

[Poem Request # 10]

with apologies to William Wordsworth:

Behold him, single in the field,
Yon solitary skeleton Death!
Reaping and singing by himself,
Stay here, or lose your neck!
Alone he cuts the people's throats
And sings a melancholy note;
O listen! for this next encore
Was never sung with so much gore.

No hungry wolf did ever murder
More wanton goats of weary bands
Of shepherds in some shady verdure
Among Arabian sands.
A voice so chilling ne'er did wail
From blackboards rubbed with fingernails
Breaking the silence of the sea
With what sounds like AC/DC.

Will no one tell me why he kills? --
Perhaps these plainitive murders flow
For old, unhappy, far-off thrills
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble trip?
Familiar matter, Freudian slip?
Some unnatural lust, maternal woe
That turned this guy into Psycho?

Whate'er his theme, the maniac slew
As if his rage would have no ending
I saw him singing at his work
And over his chainsaw bending; --
I listened motionless and still,
And after I was also killed
That music to my grave I bore
Long after I could hear no more.

8 comments:

Prerona said...

why are your poems called poetry request?

Revealed said...

Think it should have been apologies to the Reaper. Singing?? Chainsaw wielding?!! Tsk.

@ricercar: LOL!

Anonymous said...

Mmmh!! Very devilish indeed!! Reference to AC/DC was awesome hehehe!

maya varghese said...

solitary reaper won me a prize for english recitation in 8th std. so reading this was a bit painful.

Falstaff said...

ricercar: Ummm...because they're requests. Click the link maybe?

revealed: That too. But I figure, the minute he pays attention to me I'm dead anyway, so why bother.

supremus: Thanks

maya: Isn't 8th standard kind of old to be doing solitary reaper? Also, I would have thought that would only make you happier to see the poem spoofed. I did Casabianca in std. IV and I've hated the poem ever since.

Prerona said...

oh! i never thought to check the link! this is a cool idea :)

Gammafunction said...

awesome. talking of poetry requests how about Nissim ezekiel's:The professor.Now that won me a prize at school.

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