Within my garden fast beside a wall
Where I was digging in another age
I found entombed in earth a child’s toy,
A soldier all in tin from some great war;
And when I wiped away the grime that time
Had placed upon his face and uniform
I saw he was a manneken all dressed
In red, as if he bled his life away.
And in my mind I heard vain Xerxes say
To Artabanus, as the two surveyed
The mighty Persian army there arrayed
Before them, in a century, or less,
All the grand warriors now proud and strong
Would be sad memories and nothing more.
Why did I have to find him there today?
The very day I came to do my chore
Of cleaning out the chimney, so the soot
Of seasons’ fires past could be removed
For a new start. And there, down in the dust
And ash of yesteryear I found the bones
And feathers of a robin that had flown
Into the depths, safe haven from the storm,
To sing an hour or two, and then his breast
Incarnadine to rise and fall no more.
I’d heard him sing so sweetly months ago
But I’d forgotten him, too easily
It seemed to me, and now the silent void
Where he once trilled was but a dusty grave.
What do they mean, these sad epiphanies?
Why do my eyes grow cold and moist as I
Look out on sunsets dressed in cochineal
And hear the beating of two tiny wings,
Then hear them stop as crimson turns to gray?
I walk tonight beside the ocean’s quern
And feel the Spindle of Necessity
That runs through all transfix me to this place
Of shadow figures marching hand in hand.
They tread, a sad procession, ‘round the flame
That flickers at the center of the night.
And yet, I could forget the daunting sight
Had I not looked back at a beauty veiled
And seen my footsteps too washed from the sand.
Update:Please note the novelistic techniques. The toy soldier and robin are both dressed in red, and at the last so is the sunset. When reading "I /Look out on sunsets dressed in cochineal / And hear the beating of two tiny wings" remember that cochineal dye originally was extracted from the bodies of Dactylopius coccus, and was introduced to Europe by Spanish conquerors in Mexico. Are the "two tiny wings" those of the ill-starred robin of S2 or those insects. Suddenly, the two merge, ages are spanned, and we are brought into the presence of the universal, the timeless vault of "ocean's quern" and the "Spindle of Necessity." The procession of "shadow figures" is reminiscent of the Indian pageant fanushi khiyal alluded to in the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam, which itself is symbolic of life. By the way, this poem was written years ago, when I lived in another place and heated with coal. I did find the robin the day I dug up the toy
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
1st stanza:
An introduction to the subject.
"Where I was digging; like into another age"
Two personalities - Xerxes and Artabanus are mentioned, so I brought the info in:
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Thermopylae and Athens
At the Battle of Thermopylae, a small force of Greek warriors led by King Leonidas of Sparta resisted the much larger Persian forces, but were ultimately defeated. According to Herodotus, the Persians broke the Spartan phalanx after a Greek man called Ephialtes betrayed his country by telling the Persians of another pass around the mountains. After Thermopylae, Athens was captured and the Athenians and Spartans were driven back to their last line of defense at the Isthmus of Corinth and in the Saronic Gulf.
What happened next is a matter of some controversy. According to Herodotus, upon encountering the deserted city, in an uncharacteristic fit of rage particularly for Persian kings, Xerxes had Athens burned. He almost immediately regretted this action and ordered it rebuilt the very next day. However, Persian scholars dispute this view as pan-Hellenic propaganda, arguing that Sparta, not Athens, was Xerxes's main foe in his Greek campaigns, and that Xerxes would have had nothing to gain by destroying a major center of trade and commerce like Athens once he had already captured it.
At that time, anti-Persian sentiment was high among many mainland Greeks, and the rumor that Xerxes had destroyed the city was a popular one, though it is equally likely the fire was started by accident as the Athenians were frantically fleeing the scene in pandemonium, or that it was an act of "scorched earth" warfare to deprive Xerxes's army of the spoils of the city.
At Artemisium, large storms had destroyed ships from the Greek side and so the battle stopped prematurely as the Greeks received news of the defeat at Thermopylae and retreated. Xerxes was induced by the message of Themistocles (against the advice of Artemisia of Halicarnassus) to attack the Greek fleet under unfavourable conditions, rather than sending a part of his ships to the Peloponnesus and awaiting the dissolution of the Greek armies. The Battle of Salamis (September, 480 BC) was won by the Greek fleet, after which Xerxes set up a winter camp in Thessaly.[citation needed]
Due to unrest in Babylon, Xerxes was forced to send his army home to prevent a revolt, leaving behind an army in Greece under Mardonius, who was defeated the following year at Plataea. The Greeks also attacked and burned the remaining Persian fleet anchored at Mycale. This cut off the Persians from the supplies they needed to sustain their massive army, and they had no choice but to retreat. Their withdrawal roused the Greek city-states of Asia.
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In 465 BC, Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court (Hazarapat/commander of thousand). Although Artabanus bore the same name as the famed uncle of Xerxes, a Hyrcanian, his rise to prominence was due to his popularity in religious quarters of the court and harem intrigues. He put his seven sons in key positions and had a plan to dethrone the Achamenids.
In August 465 BC, Artabanus assassinated Xerxes with the help of a eunuch, Aspamitres. Greek historians give contradicting accounts of events. According to Ctesias (in Persica 20), Artabanus then accused the Crown Prince Darius, Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder and persuaded another of Xerxes's sons, Artaxerxes, to avenge the patricide by killing Darius.
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A toy soldier and the remains of a robin bird.
I recall myself at the age of 16, cycling towards cape Sounio; it was Easter, and April was fresh and beautiful - so, close to the temple of Poseidon, (about 5 km away), I found a dead robin bird next to the asphalt. Strange memory - the robin stayed with me for quite a while, and I placed him in some of my poems, then. And now I recalled the little soul again.
The 3rd stanza is the stronger. (a name of red in Greek is cochino - good word).
The 3rd stanza stays with me, (ocean's quern)
(And hear the beating of two tiny wings,
Then silence stops them, as crimson turns to gray?)
((( Of shadow figures marching hand in hand.
They tread, a sad procession, ‘round the flame
That flickers at the center of the night.
And yet, I could forget the daunting sight
Had I not looked back at a beauty veiled )))
Beautiful!...
(Noticed my footsteps water-wiped from the sand.)
Very nice poem mate!
Big deep heavy sigh. I was transfixed from beginning to end.
It is all ephemera. Everything ephemera.