My First Publication in an Anthology
I was featured on Mays Publishing Homepage for my narrative poem published in their Winter Splinter Anthology.
Check out “Daffodil fields for the Goddess of Vanity”
Daffodil fields for the Goddess of Vanity
(虚栄の女神 Kyōei no Megami)
Under kamenozoki (1.瓶覗) clouds, the glittering hail hits a frozen sea, playing a divine elegy.
On beds of shimmering snow upon the hills of Echizen Cape(2), a view so heavenly.
A single daffodil bloom, and from its bulb bore kyoei no megami (3.虚栄の女神).
Goddess of grace and vanity, her nascent causes winter skies to begin kindling.
Her hair was silvery, Her eyes a glistening gray,
her cheeks frost kissed, and 6 beauty marks rested on her face.
With nimble feet and curiosity, she walks to the sea,
and just like that unintentionally her touch causes the ice to unfreeze.
The cold waves began to hit the shore, gently sweeping across the snow mounds.
The powdered fields are now solid ground, and winter daffodils bloom abound.
Kuraokami the god of winter noticed the early bloom of daffodils,
He thought they were a sign of early spring frills.
He said “Who dare disrupt the delicate balance of the seasons?
Young goddess, you can’t melt the seas without reasons.”
With a gentle sigh, he breathed a chill wind,
causing the sea to refreeze and the flower stems to bend.
The goddess desperately wanted the flowers to bloom,
So that lands such as these need not be so gloom.
She fell to her knees atop the ice.
Ice-like mirrors she saw herself and was surprised.
She adjusted her silvery hair, ensuring every strand was perfectly in place.
Staring into the curves of her face she became dazed.
Her beauty was now revealed,
she didn’t care what happened to the fields.
Now in a solipsistic trance,
The daffodils didn’t have a chance.
Snow began to fall, covering them all.
A Euhadra snail on a rock, couldn’t believe what he saw.
And so it began to crawl, towards the goddess.
But, by the time it could get to her, spring came.
The ice melted, and the snow turned to rain.
The goddess was enraged. She couldn’t see her face!
And so she dove into the sea,
in hopes reflective ice would still be frozen beneath.
As the goddess swam deep, the snail finally reached the sea,
Waited and waited but the goddess never came up to see,
The fields are green and ready to seed in the spring.
Spring, summer, and fall passed.
The snail filled with worry he’d never see the daffodils again stood in aghast.
Till a silver strain of hair flashed.
It washed up on the land, and so the snail grabbed it,
with its mouth and began its journey through the soon-to-be frozen land.
Wove the hair through the hills and at the end of winter out bloomed daffodils.
The winter god was confused because he thought the goddess was consumed,
By the sea of Japan, and couldn’t understand,
How daffodils still span,
In memory of the goddess the snail had a plan,
Every autumn to plant the seeds so that one day,
When the goddess comes abay,
She’ll see the daffodils sway in the winter breeze,
And how they are now a part of the winter scene.
footnotes:
Kamenozoki: is a blue japanese color name for #C6C2B6
Echizen Cape is in Fukui Prefecture in Japan
kyoei no megami means Goddess of Vanity in Japanese