Friday, October 26, 2007

Du


Du

as night

A sooted word

shallow

colourless

obsidian bird

Hosts the stars

coats the dead

guides the monsters

to a child’s bed

.

Du,

as spades

a shadowlack

lifeless

lightless

veils the act

Heightens the senses of

want and need

drapes the widow

in mournful weeds

.

Du,

the bones

of underearth

pays the ferryman

as life reverts

Hides the sun

chases day

gifts the sleep

to those who lack

life cannot live

without the black

To deny un-light

Would be like calling

the kettle

Du



.

19 comments:

Yodood said...

I love new words, so I looked up "du" and found, tucked in below depleted uranium, data units and a plethora of Dxxxx Universities this little tidbit about a bird found only in New Caladonia, the Sylviornis neocaledoniae but doesn't mention its being the color whose name a pot might call a kettle. Recalling your poem of a plastic bag taken for a bird, I must assume you have written this one about a bird taken for a plastic bag, the color of which we have both linguistically avoided the name of.

Unknown said...

No need for avoidance, G&G, I maybe should have explained. Du is the Cornish word for that which shall remain nameless, colourless and spectrum-less.

John said...

Amm dhymm ytho!

Jan said...

Good to learn a new word, particularly if it's Cornish, Minx, so thanks for that.
Bet it's brilliant there at present...the sea on the walk from St Ives to Zennor then hot soup in the Tinners arms!
Yeh!

Vesper said...

Beautiful, Minx, and haunting.
I like its hypnotic flow, so well triggered by the word "du"...
What an interesting word, also. How do you pronounce it?

Anonymous said...

spooky, shivery, i don't think i'll re-read it before bedtime tonight ...

and a strange coincidence .... another blogger recently commented to me in an email that you and soubriquet were like the pot and the kettle .....

odd.

xx
red

Unknown said...

Excellent, Minx, and thanks for clarifying 'Du'! I was wondering.......!

Anonymous said...

(speechless)

Taffiny said...

I very much like the imagery, but not the image.
(that makes sense, doesn't it?)
try again,
I like the way you said it. Though not so taken with the it, it was about.

Roberta said...

This is beautiful. Perfect for the season. (BTW: great minds? I took a shot of the moon myself last night. It was beautiful.)

basest said...

gorgeous poem, minx.

and..again...a new word to learn (with a an abstract and poetic definition, no less!)

Unknown said...

Gav dhymm, John, ple'ma an privedhyow? Y ny, my a mowes an da.

Mermaid spotting, Jan?

Pronounced 'doo', Vesper. Also like the word red - rudyh (rudya)and 'pluvenn' which means pen. I know all the rude words as well (proudly).

Very odd, Red, I am nothing like a pot (I don't think).

Du as coal, John G.

Is that normal, CS, will your speech come back? Hope so.

Black is my favourite non-colour, Taff. It is only an absence of light, after all.

Thanks, Roberta, this is the best part of the year for me - Samhain comes and so does a secret....

Thank you, Basest, I like to play with words, not very well, but all the same...

Yodood said...

Cornish is more than a hen, eh? Just how many languages do the isles originate?

Anonymous said...

Du is the Welsh word for black - pronounced a bit like 'dee'

Anonymous said...

The sidebar photos are fantastic!

I read Du.
It had a magnetic effect of keeping me here. I slowly wandered back down again through the streets of Strangetown, and then saw the red claw hand...

Unknown said...

How many originate? Phew, lots,G&G, but most are now dead (Pictish, Cumbric, Manx etc). Modern spoken languages, apart from English and its many dialects include: Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish and French (Channel Islands). Obviously French did not originate here but Breton (Brittany)is akin to the Celtic languages.

I didn't know that, Owain, thank you. Nice word, and nice of you to pop in, not often I get a Prince in me comments!

Sexy nails, Leslie - partial to them meself!

S. Kearney said...

Lovely Minx, and there I was thinking you were reaching over to France for their "du" which we anglophones take years to say right! :-) The light gray on black - the colour of the text - was hard to see but once I'd managed it - what a treat. The words were velvety!

Taffiny said...

Oh, are we merely talking of a color?
oh then yes black is nice, good for slimming. And for having things match without having to strain oneself thinking.
I thought we were talking the great darkenss, that some believe lives undeground and burns people for eternity. That is what I am not fond of.

Debi said...

Great word ...
Great words ...