Poem: Bruce Dawe, 'Marcel Marceau at the Comedy Theatre'

[Meghna Mudaliar]

Thought you all might like this one. :-)


Marcel Marceau at the Comedy Theatre

You're the accused, whose trap was to be born
to be circumspectly torn
between those two loquacious hounds, defence and prosecution,
whose deliverance is only at rope's end,
for whom the hangman comes as final friend.

You're every prisoner who ever fought
the cage-walls with his palms,
whose body cried out from a taut crouch against
the interdict of bars,
whose hands (for a second, for a second only)
burst through and stroked the stars,

Who rose full height, exultant, free, to find
The prison at his finger-tips, closing fast,
panicked and braced his life to bear that weight,
the recurring nightmare, fate,
fell down within himself, became
faceless, anonymous, inane.

You're each one of us who walk in the spring air,
tugged by the leash of instinct, poodle-wise
(la vie parisienne des Jardins Zoologiques!)
who, rhythmical as clock's-tick, climb
an invisible stair, are comforted to trace
the bannister's accompanying ascent,
stumble, recover, poker-pasty-faced,
and with profound intent
achieve a happy landing where (surprise surprise)
we see more stairs more banisters...

You bring us with your own remoseless grace
a loneliness as pure and crystal clear
as any moon might offer in the space
between two fists of cloud to draw our fear
upward in union with that heartbreak face
-- that throat slashed by a smile from ear to ear.

[ananth...@gmail.com]

"-- that throat slashed by a smile from ear to ear." Oww. :-/

Also, remember the discussion we had reg. "The Queen's Rival" by Sarojini Naidu? About how women are perceived and stuff? Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wJl37N9C0 . Very powerful poetry, in a way.

Regards,

Girish Ananth

[sai rahul j]

@girish : end  sem exam pattern and room ?? mam told she will be mailing us....inquire about it !!!

[ananth...@gmail.com]

You realize ma'am is also on the same group? :P 

@Meghna ma'am: Please send us the exact poems we need to learn? I'll send over the pattern in another thread.

Regards,

Girish Ananth

[Syed Sufiyan]

Should have read this poem during the last week. Especially yesterday. It wouldve probably been like Gandhiji's Talisman reminding you that there are people who are worser off than you are in the world. The picture that the poet paints actually is very compelling to any reader to think of it as being of human suffering, though I feel that it could possibly be about animals in a zoo or a circus (as the title points out). The bit in French means "Parisian Life in Zoological gardens" (Google Translate) which could possibly refer to the way people keep looking at them (the animals or the people in prisons).

--

Syed Sufiyan

Undergraduate Student

Dept. Of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute Of Technology,Madras