What History Repeats

What History Repeats

A Poem by C. Harter Amos

 

The river is still, deep black water,
Running through caverns of  Mayan hell,
Stories made here too horrible and ancient to tell.
Surrounded by a forest tunnel
She dreams of going beyond her mountain world,
She dreams of things to come that are beautiful, beyond the human race
Beyond the sun’s godlike face
Beyond the moon whose shadows show
the magic of the mountains and jungles below.
the jaguar god once gave his laws
with lethal silver claws,
unsheathed blades for teeth
metallic shell with skin beneath
People from somewhere, a foreign word she learned to hate
she knows it’s her condemned people’s fate
to realize nothing.
 
In her city
The men have fought each other and died
The lowlands in over harvested forest have dried,
The children once hungry now disappeared,
The voices of old women silenced by what they feared
Until only she is left, fertile and full of broken anticipation,
Her lover, her brothers and sisters, her father and mother, all Mayan.
Gone, one by one, until bereft like a shell, she stands silhouetted one last time
In what should have been her most splendid prime.
 
Raising her arms to Hunab Ku, the god of gods,
Raising her arms to greet the sun,  
From the tallest building on the tallest mountain,
Bursting forth, like a black jaguar wishing for wings,
She sings to Quatzelcoatl, god of wind, as she falls,
disappearing into the jungle far below,
joining legends of shadowy beings and naked bone
from a civilization once great, now gone.
 

© 2009 C. Harter Amos


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Reviews

oh wow. my prevailing complaint about the Cafe for the past couple of years has been that works like this get so few reviews. This is a stellar piece. Unique, technically brilliant and a story true to the culture...Sigh. I've been absent for awhile - I've missed your writing.

Posted 13 Years Ago


A beautiful testament to the Mayan people Mimi, you followed the path of the girl to womanhood and her path was grim...as it was for all of them. You have done your homework (as always) and added herbs and spices with your unique phrasing and stunning imagery...
Just gorgeous and a pleasure to read!

Cheers~

Helen~

Posted 13 Years Ago


the rhythms underneath the words are stunning, I was transported so far beyond myself. I felt like I knew those mountains though. I remember falling once. Maybe that was it. Wondrous work.

Posted 14 Years Ago


How very ancient indian feeling....The Aztecs or the Anasazzi come to mind..historical feeling as well, a write well worth reading twice, I enjoyed this.

Posted 14 Years Ago


the corpulence of the transported message is what I like about this piece, when I go into detail, I see the integrated whole, you make us see and you do it with ease, raffinesse to influence without influencing, that's the perfect message, we need to go few steps back to save our souls and to share what we have with others on this earth, wonderful piece Mimi, and thank you for entering my contest. Hope all is well, kind regards, L.

Posted 14 Years Ago



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318 Views
5 Reviews
Added on April 25, 2009
Last Updated on April 29, 2009

Author

C. Harter Amos
C. Harter Amos

Lexington, SC



About
Born in the swamps of the South Carolina Low Country. Brought up on the Classics with a great deal of emphasis on music. I spent about six years at the University of South Carolina in Columbia soakin.. more..

Writing