Beneath the vault in locked, dark seam,
The furnace heaves through basalt night;
A buried hymn below unseen.

The mantle shifts its lanes of light,
A molten rumour speaking spark.
Ungloving ores by sheerest might

An ancient lattice makes its mark
On earth remade by force unnamed
Bent in shadow, preserved in dark.

The feldspar softens where it’s flamed,
The mica warps, the graphite shines.
All altered, grain by grain, reclaimed.

The crushing dark redraws the lines,
For every weight a shaping hand
That grinds the old resisting signs.

A stress unseen brings fault to land,
To will the rigid core to yield
And breach the sealed horizon’s stand.

So moves the soul within that field
Where trials stack to monocline,
All raw experience annealed.

A deeper pattern climbs the spine;
The soul recrystallised in fire,
Recast beneath the surface lines.

Still downward goes the buried fire,
Run deeper through tectonic grade,
Still closer draws the unmade choir.

For nothing remains unallayed
When all must pass through pressure’s gate
To break, to burn and rise remade.

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7 responses to “Metamorphic”

  1. mitchteemley Avatar

    Strong imagery, D.H. I like the rhyme scheme too. Do you know if it has a name?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. D. H. Jervis Avatar

      Thanks Mitch. Its called Terza Rima. Dante popularised it in The Divine Comedy (but with a different meter) and Shelley was fond of it so… …illustrious company.

      Its fun to play with and quite challenging, but satisfying when it works well.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. william sinclair manson (Billy.) Avatar

    yes loved this, you have a way with words..

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Heather Mirassou Avatar

    Dom, I bet the rocks are outstanding! I loved this poem. The rhyming and imagery is genius. Do you play with rocks? I bet you have quite the collection.

    My partner and I collect rocks, thousands of rocks surround our ranch in different formations. Chadd knows all their names and where they came from, I am just an amateur and enjoy their beauty and shapes.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. D. H. Jervis Avatar

      Yes, I’m a rock enthusiast. I’m forever picking them up.
      I’m lucky enough to live in a dramatic place of plunging cliffs and geologic wonder, so plenty of inspiration.
      There are many ways to name a landscape.

      Liked by 1 person

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Thorn and Benediction
Thorn and Benediction
@dhjervis.xyz@dhjervis.xyz

Poetry
These poems are moments pulled from the folds of everyday life, memory, myth and imagination. They are invitations to pause, to notice, and to enter the spaces between words.

One written each day.

Some days are a prick.
Some are a blessing.

Thorn and Benediction.

My main social presence is at Wordpress.

https://dhjervis.xyz/

I would be delighted to connect with you there.

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