I knew two ravens; one was memory.
When I was young, he whispered in my ear;
he filled my mind with all there was to see,
and I went forth, devoid of any fear.
I knew it all, and with that knowledge, built
a citadel of great magnificence
upon the bones of others, without guilt,
whilst barely understanding my offence.
When wisdom came, he cocked his wise old head
and settled on my shoulder with a caw
that raised a spectral phalanx of the dead,
which should have brought my conscience to the fore,
but I was old, my memory had flown,
and I could not recall what I had sown.
|
Author Notes
In Norse mythology, wisdom and memory are a pair of ravens called Huginn and Muninn, that fly all over world, bringing information to Odin, the one-eyed god.
Public Domain image from Wikipedia of Huginn and Muninn on Odin's shoulders, copied from an illustration in an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript.
|
|
