The Mustard Seed | Teen Ink

The Mustard Seed

April 26, 2011
By Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran


I wake with a mechanic shriek
For the songbird has a severed beak
My ears wear coats of desert dust
Hearing, not a hymn, but stuttered lust
“The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”
Is just a shade on the merchant’s lawn
The gardener forgot to care
So the dew clings, frightened, to the air

Ageless disciple of the trees,
Play me your song and I’ll follow thee!
But as his footprints blessed the sand
They were wiped away by his calloused hand
Now the schoolmaster arms the child
His face is measured; his eyes are wild
A doe lies dying on his knee
While he teaches the youth of victory

Captains cry to the falling stars
Our ships set sail and we’ve gone so far!
Embarking on the dimming sea
Enjoying Titanic luxury
Factory bells gravely proclaim:
An hour is christened; ‘Noon’ is the name
Where is the Sun, our guide, our crown?
They aimed for the light and shot it down

Although the ewe prefers the ram
The wolf shall dwell alongside the lamb
The harbinger of bestial doom
As they lie, entwined, in the sitting room
Non-partisans watch from the hill
As the savage wolf goes in for the kill
Pierced by falcons, the clouds’ soundless thresh
Is like the lamb as teeth tore at flesh

Says the wolf to the ghostly form
I’ve conquered Death and ceased the storm
But what of raindrops on my wool?
What of the tears of a funeral?
Cain and Abel quickly embraced
Then one was consumed, the other defaced
Slaughter on the altar of God
Strike the child to spoil the rod

Says Father whose veins never bled
To his children hiding beneath the bed
Come out, young ones, we’ve ceased the storm
But what of the haven where it’s warm?
Or rushing to our mother’s arms
When Nature releases her false alarms?
The tempest stops; the thunder fades
But in the heart of our fear, we were unafraid

Says the healer when he began
To wipe the forehead of a dying man
Rise, my friend, we have conquered Death
But what of the joy of one last breath?
The ebb of the eternal tide?
What of the doorway to the other side?
Paint the rose so it’s not to die
The scent has left it; the petals are dry

We heard footsteps which underlie
A coachman’s silhouette in the sky
The horses’ heads were firmly turned
Towards a road that was beaten and burned
On this trail we met loss and pain
So we struck the driver and took the reins!
Crippled coachman, I now believe
You discerned a light we could not perceive

Gone are the children who played in the yard
Silent the tongues of the sage and the bard
Lifeless are the robins and bees
Still is the heart whose beat stained the breeze
Arrows rain on heavenly birds
Clergymen burn books of sacred words
My eyelids open, sigh, then resign
To four horsemen on the horizon line

Hues of the rainbow dull and blend
At the edge of the world, curtains descend
Still high is the crowd’s jubilee
Their ears ignore the ultimate plea
As I sit, unclothed, on the nighttime soil
The absence of moonlight is as heavy as oil
What my dirty hands find as they search through the weeds
Is a wilting flower
And a mustard seed


The author's comments:
I would very much like input, my reader friend.

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This article has 29 comments.


leafy said...
on Jan. 21 2012 at 6:47 pm
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

Oh Raven, you already have. 'My words' were just my way of thanking you for writing this :)

on Jan. 21 2012 at 1:29 pm
Well, I wish I could give you something have as splendid as your words have given me.

leafy said...
on Jan. 13 2012 at 3:37 pm
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

I have returned to your works, having been dismayed in humanity of the recent poems I have read. But again, as your words drip unto my tongue, I realize that all is not lost, that there is some hope for literature. O Feathery Bard, you are certainly a breath of fresh air, a golden sip of hot cocoa on this chilly January afternoon.

leafy said...
on Dec. 22 2011 at 10:18 am
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

Oh Bard, I can only simply say that I hope that someday I'll be half as splendid as you.

on Aug. 9 2011 at 10:26 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Only the artist can truly understand his art.

on Aug. 9 2011 at 11:25 am
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Ha, that seems to be the general reaction.

on Aug. 8 2011 at 11:58 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

I like it just I was bit lost throughout.

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jul. 23 2011 at 1:44 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

Oh no. It's fine. I respect all artists such as yourself! :)

on Jul. 23 2011 at 11:17 am
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Oh dear! I'm quite sorry to hear that!

I will say, however, that this poem was one of my most inspired. I don't regret writing it in the least, and I wouldn't change a single word. It is, I admit, very hard for anyone to follow, but I put lots of meaning into it (even if it's too obscure to understand).

All the same, I'm very sorry to have bored you!


Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jul. 22 2011 at 8:43 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

I really like the language of this poem but it's very hard for me to follow. It confuses me and it almost bores me! Sorry!

 


on Jul. 8 2011 at 9:24 am
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

I love that line. i need to read this again.

on Jul. 7 2011 at 12:41 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

"I wake with a mechanic shriek, for the songbird has a severed beak..."

on Jul. 7 2011 at 8:36 am
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

when you responded to the seilence, what did you say?

on Jul. 6 2011 at 6:57 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

It did not speak.

But I responded to the silence.


on Jul. 6 2011 at 4:54 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

hmmm......I see, but what did it say?

on Jul. 5 2011 at 4:01 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Inspiration fell from the sky on a cloudy afternoon in mid december.

on Jul. 5 2011 at 12:16 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

perhaps, while you are here captain...what isit that inspired you towards the ecrivement of this piece.

on Jul. 3 2011 at 8:02 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

The eyes look so real as they creep across the floor, that I often wonder if the steady beat of bongo drums in my ears is actually the rhythm of my own frightened heart.

on Jul. 3 2011 at 7:08 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

it would be the rituals the mask performs that lead you to believe those things you're seeing are actually eyes.

on Jul. 1 2011 at 8:36 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

I rather wish you'd take off your mask. It's performing rituals with its eyes.