Now who, having been a tree
or aflame, ash and star-spark
or a fish, gleaming sun-gold
would ask for rebirth as child
to cap this glory, soul’s blaze?
Day 21 of the PAD Chapbook Challenge asks for a “strange” poem. I have been thinking about this fairy tale, which was new to me.
Graceful Press Poetry 
Your poem reminded me so much of The Little Fir Tree I was convinced that was the story that had inspired it. I read the story in the link and I hated it! Lots of reasons but mainly feminist ones. Not surprising the world has stayed so long a cruel masculine domain with stories like that told for the moral instruction and entertainment of children. Your poem is a little gem though 🙂
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It was a horrible story, wasn’t it? I started thinking that those boys were crazy to want to be part of such a human world. Maybe they wanted to save their mother?
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It’s those stories that involve girls who are fantastically beautiful (ie worthless otherwise) who are supposed to be eternally grateful and overjoyed because some character decides that after sentencing them to a horrible death for just not delivering on the marriage terms of acceptance, he’ll take them back after all. Wow! And the kids are only important because they’re boys, their mother is important only because she produced boys. Saving mother might have been in their minds, but that was obviously of very limited importance for the storyteller. An ugly world as you say.
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I agree, talk about a story to paint women as evil and take away the traditional wise woman’s power. I love your poem all the more for its question of why. And such beauty in the words you use to balance between their beautiful souls and the inexpkicability. Maybe it’s simply human nature to want to be human again? I live the angle you took!
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The whole tale was puzzling. Maybe the Lang version is drifted far from the original (Hungarian, I think)? Or maybe not… Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
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Great story. Love the last line!
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