He, whose heart
we all thought was black
He, who we all thought was a bat in the night
with greasy hair
He, who represents the House of the Snake
He deserves a bow
Physically, he would bow
to the Dark Lord. But his heart,
so strong, would, as a snake,
slither to where it could be kept safe, in the black
darkness, the recesses of his mind, where red hair
is also kept safe; unspoken, quiet as the night.
He crawls home in the night
almost ready to bow
to the pain. his hair
wet with blood. his heart
aching with the strain of duplicity. only the black
of unconsciousness can soothe the inky snake
On his arm is manifest that hated snake.
accursed, loathsome mark of the night.
where once was uninterrupted paleness, now black.
A reminder of how he must, in false submission, bow
to a monster with no heart.
But he does have one, torn apart by memories of ephemeral red hair
And, lo, that red hair
An angel to a snake
He thinks the match unfitting, but his heart
Still yearns to hold her in the night
if she is afraid. Yearns to, in gentlemanly courtship, bow
from, dare he say it? L- No. But, anyway, he is too black
His love is strong, but his soul is tainted Black.
So strong, his love. Prongs will never stroke her hair,
and see how perfect she is, and bow
to that overwhelming goodness. is he the snake?
or he? or even he? but Prongs is the one she will turn to in the night
to protect her, to quell her trembling heart
And did this black heart
Ever have the chance to stroke that hair in a fearful night?
Was he ever worthy to bow to that perfect angel, this snake?
That was a sestina. At the end of every line is one of six words, repeated in this pattern.
1) ABCDEF
2) FAEBDC
3) CFDABE
4) ECBFAD
5) DEACFB
6) BDFECA
Envoi) ECA or ACE (Optional: BDF in the middle of the lines)
I'm unhappy with this, for I wanted the phrase 'bravest man I've ever known' to appear in it, but instead the poem wound up being mostly about Lily, and how 'he will never think her perfect as I thought her'.