Ötzi

Even in my long sleep,
I dreamed of this.
A waking by strangers
A grasping of my wrist
And I wrench it back from them!

My dreams beneath the ice
Were warm, in summer vales,
Where children played
Under my watch, old but hale.
An easy thing, my guard was then.

I tend sore limbs as supper warms,
And aching joints inflamed,
And muscles tough as ibex horn;
For a while I can be lame.
And see my copper ax in the red-gold flame.

I dream of how it came to me,
After vanquishing a headsman.
Intruders fell before me!
And I earned this talisman.
Weapon, scepter, power of my clan!

Then I was sent across the mountain,
A lone journey I knew well.
To trade with kinsmen in a the northern glen,
With gifts, arrow shafts and tales to tell,
Never guessing betrayal that walked behind.

Alone upon the highest peak
I ate my last meal by the fire.
To me the gods seemed trying to speak,
As men I knew climbed higher.
We had words, but they were my kin!

In my long sleep I wonder why
These false friends turned to hate.
I’d watched over them, yet they cried
That my rule was done, and it was too late,
So I turned from them and faced my doom.

I crossed the last protruding rock
And now felt safe from them.
But then a blow, beneath my heart: a shock!
I fell in a soft, snowy glen,
And then a dull pain in my skull…and black.

Beneath me, I can feel the ax;
They’d never take that from me!
Nor my arrows, quivers and packs;
And risk the fury of the gods.
They’d taken my power and left a naked soul.

Five-thousand years I spent beneath the frost,
Until I was found and freed.
My scattered ions watched, angry and lost.
They dragged my body from its bed
And my soul from another life.

Now part of me lies in a crypt
Another frozen tomb.
If only I hadn’t run and slipped,
All those ages ago,
I would now lie in sacred ground,
Back in the earth to which all are bound.

As the waves separate and leave him standing
alone on his small rock
in the middle of the ocean,
he lets out a sigh of deep,
haunted sadness. The fractured earth
is sending harsh, jagged lines
of rending sound out
and into the open. Children play
on the line of the shore
and dance in the joyful waves
greeting their toes
as they push their feet
into the wet sand.
He watches the giant wave approach them,
the fear cloud their happy eyes,
their laughter instantly merge
into a harmony
of pure terror.
He watches them run,
pointlessly,
for the false safety
of their mothers' arms.
He shudders his cold,
rattling breath and waits
to see how long
it will take this time.

What did the glass say to the ice?
"Kiss my bottom"
And the cube replied:
"Fiery spirit, I admire that in a glass"

Your fingers curl around me
like tendrils of mist
of icy darkness
in this floating abyss

All around me is dark
no light to be seen
My skin as cold as ice
Your grasp a freezing touch

You cling onto me
Frozen to the touch
as I try to pry you off me
but your grip as strong as stone

I cannot escape your Icy grasp
which chills me to the bone
Thoughts of light and warmth are gone
only darkness is my home

So when I feel your Icy grip
dragging me farther down
I welcome your icy grasp in comfort
as you pull me down

Emotions are a blessing to me
To you they are the worst of curses
I cry and they gather to let go
You cling to them to feel their embrace

The cold of winter would bite at you
I wear a jacket safe from the snow
The lancing spears of despair gather
I watch the icicles in your eyes

Once I would have given my jacket
But many times you have refused it
Till both of us stood still and frozen
You hurt me to see the snowflakes melt

Do you still remember the summer
I followed you to white sand beaches
You dipped your toes in cold water
I smiled for you were bravery

Back then I was merely the duckling
You forged paths through flower gardens
My small missteps painted me a ****
Yet you dont seem to remember then

Emotions were a blessing to you
I laughed to see you in the snow
You wore a coat of gathered crystals
And I followed you for your embrace