"I Slew a Yak"

 

Writing from the Heart.  Dec. 10, 2022 Assignment. 
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”  By Samuel Taylor Coleridge. (1798/1834 final ed.) 
From:  Richard Melnick, WftH student, Jan. 2023.
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The long poem was fascinating.  A very enlightening assignment.       
My goodness, Atmosphere, emotion, and plot are all expressed amazingly well.

I submit a poem, entirely motivated by and indebted to the great Rime by Mr. Coleridge.

“I slew a Yak.”

I slew a Yak on the Russian steppe,
A full-enraged beast was he,
This hairy bull I shall never forget,
His sharp horns fixed 'pon me.
I smartly reached into my quiver,
For a stone-tipped spear to send,
An arrow of love I did not deliver,
For its accuracy spelled his end.
I dragged his carcass on a sled,
'Bout 15 miles to our camp,
We skinned it of all hair and hide,
It's red blood lit our lamp.
The frigid tundra was quick to remind us,
Of harsher times way back,
The skies were full of storm and stress,
Until we honored the mighty Yak.
In ceremony we clothed our frames,
Danced to songs of ancestral days,
The twilight had us end our games,
As night pays an homage to our ancient ways.

RM, Jan. 11, 2023.