
Setting this up seemed mean
and was judged to be so
for it seemed to demean
Manawydan living in a dream
landscape with the life
conjured out of it like a flat plane
They moved across, Rhiannon,
Pryderi, Cigfa and he
chasing shadows to an enchanted fountain.
Against such powerful magic: a small
gesture enacted on this scaffold
quietly, determinedly, a model
Of spell-breaking – no fires on
the astral plane but calculated
unconcern in the face of persuasion
And a firm grip on a small thing
for a great purpose: he would
release into the world again
a woman in an asses collar;
make the rivers flow again,
awaken form to its true nature:
Mouse to pregnant woman,
stabled horse to a mare running free,
changes real magic causes to happen.
Brilliant! I've often thought this supposedly humble episode (the mouse scaffold) upon which so much hinges, which can at first glance appear rather surreal and trivial is worthy of much greater attention. I particularly love the summation which I think carries a very profound truth and delivers it with subtlety.
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