The old moon is tarnished
With smoke of the flood,
The dead leaves are varnished
With colour like blood.
A treacherous smiler
With teeth white as milk,
A savage beguiler
In sheathings of silk
The sea creeps to pillage,
She leaps on her prey;
A child of the village
Was murdered today.
She came up to meet him
In a smooth golden cloak,
She choked him and beat him
to death, for a joke.
Her bright locks were tangled,
She shouted for joy
With one hand she strangled
A strong little boy.
Now in silence she lingers
Beside him all night
To wash her long fingers
In silvery light.
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From guest Bob (contact)
Gory poem, what does it mean to wash her long fingers in silvery light. -
I feel 'brittany' above was more close to what I feel this is truly about than the other two. I feel without the title one would conclude their opinions endlessly, but I feel, like in some of her other works, that this is metaphorical.
I feel she is speaking about a storm, a ship is in the storm, and the storm is destroying the boat. From reading a past piece of hers, her 'husband' - 'boyfriend' .. something, whatever, was a sailor on a boat and she dreamed if he would ever come home, and she dreamed that he would and she dreamed in that blissful state.
I feel this relays on that one, that here she's dreaming that he doesn't, and why? Because the Sea has taken him away.
I feel the first two verses is solely speaking about the Moon and how the Moon controls the sea -- which it does by the by. It's not a 'full moon' but a 'crescent moon' that is out and it's 'smiling' at the hacov it's about to cause.
'A child of the village' I feel that is metaphorical for the 'ship' or 'boat' whichever, as being the 'child'.
The end representing the 'calm' after the storm. My interpretation.
A good piece that Wylie has written here.
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I liked this....i think she is saying that yes a boy is killed....not a specific person killed him...but ya i liked it a lot!!
(*)Pixie(*) -
in this poem is she talking about someone being killed or ?....
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is she talkin about a boy being dround or a boat being sank
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