Page 3

If you've found OR written a poem you'd like to share, feel free to send it to me to be added to this section. All contributions are most welcome!

Tattered clothes all fluttering Worn out voice still muttering Ragged John come knocking At all the doors in town. And when a door swings open Then you can hear the hope in The thin, cracked voice that wonders If you've seen his unicorn. And we all know John is crazy And his mind has gone all hazy And the only thing we really wish Is that he just would let us be. But John, he keeps on questing And the poor man knows no resting For there's something hurt within him. And the pain won't go away. I've heard when John was younger He was taken with a hunger To see the white-horned wonder They call the unicorn. But when that star-horned moon-maned dancer Finally called, John could not answer; Fear held him like a prisoner, And he watched it walked away. So now empty-eyed John hobbles Across the village cobbles, And the only fear he feels is It will never come again. Oh, when I watch old Ragged John Go staggering by and wandering on, I know there's nothing sadder Than a heart that feared its dreams. If a unicorn should call to you Some moon-mad night all washed in dew, Then here's the prayer to whisper: Grant me the heart to follow. By: Beatrice Farrington©

As night spread her mantle across the night sky,
I walked alone in the starlight, with shadow and sorrow.
The dark was cold, and the silence was still,
It seemed the bright sunlight would not come tomorrow.

Yet the gray shrouded woods were lit from within.
Misty light traveled through the tall trees,
A creature of stars was unveiled through the leaves,
And I knew it was one of the unicorn kin.
The glimmer faded, then brightened anew,
Dancing together, the unicorns were two.

Beauty and fire, shadow and light,
They danced silence and music, love and the fight.
More came and they joined in this glorious rite.
My mind knew only their movements of grace,
Until they were near, in a mythical race,
I knew I would remember for always this night.

For hours I watched, transfixed in their glow.
Far to the east, the sunrise lit the sky.
One stayed behind, I dared not ask why.
Somehow I knew she had stayed for me.
The dance never stopped, but slowly she faded,
Morning came and she left, it must have been fated.

For long nights I waited, watching the sky,
But I remained alone as the sun and moon rose,
When hope was long lost, I did not cry,
For I knew in my heart it was me that she chose.

I imagined nothing, no visions or tales.
Saw no mirage over the hills and the dales.
Those who have heard my tale cannot see,
In my heart is the truth, that she danced with me.

By: Natasha Caylor, Age 13 - Contributor
 

Run, Starhorn Carry fire leaping from your starhorn                 Pierce worlds Cleft suns Tangle clouds Shatter time      With your flaming starhorn Bring a wish, a maiden's wish      Head in lap      Eyes soft            Starhorn. By: Shirley Murphy© (1987)

This entire poem includes a series of images--the unicorn, the dove and the fish--all referring to the Trinity. Auden concludes by addressing Christ as the unicorn:

Then suddenly,
white with hooves of silver
and graceful horn of pearl,
stood before her
the proud rebellious unicorn.

The glorious thing about him
was not his horn, but his eyes,
which were so sorrowful, lonely,
gently and nobly tragic,
that they killed all other emotions
except love.

By: Author Unknown

"Cobalt and umber and ultramarine,
Ivory black and emerald green—
What shall I paint to give pleasure to you?"
"Paint for me somebody utterly new."

"I have painted you tigers in crimson and white."
"The colors were good and you painted aright."
"I have painted the cook and a camel in blue
And a panther in purple." "You painted them true.

Now mix me a color that nobody knows,
And paint me a country where nobody goes,
And put in it people a little like you,
Watching a unicorn drinking the dew."

By: E. V. Rieu© (1962)

During the time of legends
Every one knew her name
And Merlyn had foretold that she came.
But then she was forgotten
Not long after she died
We all knew it was happening
No matter how hard we tried.
She was burned from our history
Wiped out from our past
Just when we thought her memory
Would forever last.
But time did go on, and the centuries went by
We were lonely and we cried
We had a need and it came.

And one day we will know
By her golden horn
There was her rebirth
And she is the unicorn.

By: Shelly Hays - Contributor

By: Ranier Maria Rilke
(© New Directions Publishing Corp)

By: Ann Santinho©

The sky was low, the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,
And Noah's sons were standing at the window of the Ark.
The beasts were in, but Japhet said "I see one creature more
Belated and unmated there comes knocking at the door."
"Well, let him knock, or let him drown" said Ham, "or learn to swim;
We're overcrowded as it is. We've got no room for him."

"And yet it knocks. How terribly it knocks," said Shem. "Its feet
Are hard as horns. And O, the air from it is sweet."
"Now hush!" said Ham, "You'll waken Dad, and once he comes to see
What's at the door, it's sure to mean more work for you and me."
Noah's voice came roaring from the darkness down below:
"Some animal is knocking. Let it in before we go."

Ham shouted back (and savagely he nudged the other two).
"That's only Japhet knocking down a bradnail in his shoe."
Said Noah, "Boys, I hear a noise that's like a horse's hoof."
Said Ham, "Why, that's the dreadful rain that drums upon the roof."
Noah tumbled up on deck, and out he puts his head.
His face grew white, his knees were loosed, he tore his beard and said,

"Look, look! It would not wait. It turns away. It takes its flight.
Fine work you've made of it, my sons, between you all tonight.
O noble and unmated beast, my sons were all unkind.
In such a night, what stable and what manger will you find.
O golden hoofs, O cataracts of mane, O nostrils wide
With high disdain, and O the neck wave-arched, the lovely pride!

"O long shall be the furrows ploughed upon the hearts of men
Before it comes to stable and to manger once again.
And dark and crooked all the roads in which our race will walk,
And shriveled all their manhood like a flower on broken stalk.
Now all the world, O Ham, may curse the hour that you were born;
Because of you, the Ark must sail without the Unicorn."
 

By:  Author Unknown

The unicorn gallops through forests,
     softly eluding the dawn,
          faster and faster the fleetest of feet
               passes the speed of the song.

Enters into light years of quickness,
     disappearing as magical ones do,
          woven into the fabric of the universe,
               the unicorn takes wing and is gone.

Now captured by tapestry's taper,
     man's nimble fingers weave on,
          the unicorn caged only in carpet,
               threaded with gold and a song.

But if one looks closely in darkness,
     to the still point before shadows end,
          then perhaps we'll catch a glimpse
               of the unicorn,

                    galloping,

                         galloping on.

By:  S. K. Lindeman - (Contributor) In Memory Of Snow