Peregrine Pantoum

It started with a dream,

Snowcapped mountains and rivers full of salmon.

Green rays of light parted the middle of winter,

Dancing at the edge of the lake.

 

Snowcapped mountains and rivers full of salmon

Echoed laughter, sonatas, and lilac hunts

Dancing at the edge of the lake.

Fairy tales beckoning days on end

 

Echoed laughter, sonatas, and lilac hunts,

My grandmother’s gifts of exquisite designs.

Fairy tales beckoning days on end,

Wisdom and melancholy, built fires,

 

My grandmother’s gifts of exquisite designs,

Engineered by elves. We slept soundly.

Wisdom and melancholy built fires,

Endless books and homes peopled by souls,

 

Engineered by elves. We slept soundly

On slippery roads, frozen paths,

As endless books and homes peopled by souls

And forests disclosed treasures and children’s riddles.

 

On slippery roads, frozen paths

Driving the maze of the mind

And forests disclosed treasures and children’s riddles,

Travels and exiles, forced and chosen.

 

Driving the maze of the mind,

Tales of torture rang from the lands of the gods,

Travels and exiles, forced and chosen.

While sirens and magic flutes sounded like water,

 

Tales of torture rang from the lands of the gods.

Green rays of light parted the middle of winter

While sirens and magic flutes sounded like water.

It started with a dream.

Hélène Cardona

Barnwood poetry magazine