An Eye for Beauty

[Naga_Fireball]

Age, it seems, is finally catching up with me.
But you, it seems you have caught a second wind.

Strutting on the corner, I saw you, like a peacock.
I was dazzled by your radiance, angered by my plainness.

You never did quite see it my way. You don't know,
I suppose, that you are absolutely beautiful.

And so like the peacock, I know that if I corner you,
You'll peck my eyes out and beat your mighty wings,
And cry your exasperating, musical cry,
Telling the world how unworthy are your worshippers.

Like a savage praying to a hateful god with closed ears,
And grimacing impatience, I waste myself loving you.

I have an eye for beauty, and you, the sun in my small world, bring a tear to my eye... with your fierce, uncompromising glare.

As the pheasant breaks cover and flees across the desert of the predator's gaze, seeking safety,
I fly from your impatience, your irresistible heat, your awesome power.

Without calling, you summon me.
Without chains, you imprison me.
And like an infant demon, shrieking into the world,
I wonder why I had to leave my place of comfort,
For your circle of curiosity and misunderstanding.

A slave to a love that ceased to exist the moment it was named,
I despair at the sight of your splendour.

How I love you, and how I hate myself for doing it.
Every time I look at your eyes, you steal a little more of my breath, a little more of my fire.

Like a wizard, you outmatch me, your terrible grasp overcoming my most earnest flight.
I am your slave and you have forgotten my name.

[Naga_Fireball]

He stands at the pedestal, not even seeing the errant spirits attending his glowing aura and shining spirit.

He seats himself at a table, apparently blind to the crowd who meets him there to sup.

He raises a hand and towers fall, but he is too far removed from the destruction to hear it.

Taking his mortar and pestle, he grinds a thousand hearts to ashes, and sees nothing but a task well performed.

Tapping his wand against the cover of his black book, his enormous ledger of souls, he does not even feel me letting go.

I am one more echo in a room full of voices, to which he chooses to be deaf.

The most potent and terrible skill in his arsenal is not the attention he gives, but the attention he withholds.

Like a surgeon, seeing only the goal and none of the garbage, he cuts like the prow of a boat, through the waters of my broken heart.

And no matter how far he falls, he will land upright, and leave this river far behind him as he journeys to the ocean he knows is there.

The occasional leaf, the rare ripple, the meaningless detritus that follows him will bring his memory close for a moment, but he is gone forever beyond horizons I can never traverse.

[Christine]

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

[Naga_Fireball]

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

That is very kind of you. I wonder if there is a crying smiley.



Edit to prevent bumping the topic, but wanted to add a link to Wikipedias short but sweet article on William Shakespeare's famous spirit character from The Tempest, Ariel:


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_(The_Tempest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Priscilla Horton as Ariel, 1838. The part was played by females from the mid-1600s to about 1930. From that time, both males and females played the role.


Creator William Shakespeare
Play The Tempest
Associates Prospero
Ariel /ˈæriəl/ is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved Ariel from Sycorax's spell, and with promises to grant Ariel his freedom. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using his magical abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to bring down his master.

The source of Ariel's name and character is unknown, although several critics have pointed out his similarities to the Ariel mentioned in Isaiah chapter 29 in the Bible. The name means "Lion of God", in this sense. Ariel may also be a simple play on the word "aerial". Scholars have compared him to sprites depicted in other Elizabethan plays, and have managed to find several similarities between them, but one thing which makes Ariel unique is the human edge and personality given him by Shakespeare.

Since the stage directions in The Tempest are so precise, critics and historians are better able to see how this play may have originally been performed than with other Shakespearean plays. Several of the scenes involving magic have clear instructions on how to create the illusion required, causing critics to make connections and guesses as to exactly what sort of technology would have been used in Shakespeare's troupe to stage Ariel's role in the play. Also, a line by Ariel in Act IV brings other scholars to ask questions as to whether the original actor for Ariel played the part for Ceres as well, due to a shortage of boy actors.

Ariel is widely viewed as a male character, although this view has wavered over the years, especially in the Restoration, when, for the most part, women played the role. Ariel has also been involved, though lightly, in the debate over the colonialist nature of the play, as scholars have tried to determine how he compares to the more rebellious Caliban in terms of service to the European Prospero. Whenever Caliban desired not to obey the command of Prospero, Ariel would persuade him to do do the work, either by using magical powers or by using force.

Role in the play Edit

Ariel first appears in the second scene of the play to report to Prospero on his success in carrying out his command to shipwreck the King of Naples and his crew in a violent tempest. Ariel adds that, as commanded, he saw that none of the group were harmed, but that all landed safely on the island, scattered and separated along the coast. After being praised by Prospero, Ariel pleads for his freedom from the magician's service in return. Prospero declines, reminding him of the state he was in before Prospero rescued him: Ariel had been trapped by the witch Sycorax in a "cloven pine" as a punishment for resisting her commands. After 12 years of pain (and the death of Sycorax), Ariel was released from his prison by Prospero, who pressed the spirit into his service. The magician denies Ariel's request for freedom at this time, but promises that on the condition he follows the rest of his commands, he will grant his wish in two days. For the rest of the play, Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears—spying on the shipwrecked sailors in invisible form, but only Prospero can see Ariel.

In the second act Ariel briefly appears to stop a conspiracy to kill Alonso, King of Naples, whose brother (and heir to the dukedom), Sebastian, plots to kill him in his sleep. Ariel sings in the ear of Gonzalo, a councillor to Alonso, to wake him and foils the plot. Ariel also appears in Act Three to foil Caliban's plot to turn the sailors against Prospero and murder him. Later in the same act, he appears with a clap of thunder and rebukes those who were involved in the plot to banish Prospero to the island, displaying his fearful power to the men. He is later called on to gather the spirits of the island before Miranda and Ferdinand, and to bring Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban before Prospero for judgement.

In the final act, Ariel releases the prisoners of Prospero and awakens what is left of the crew of the ship from a deep slumber. Thanks to Ariel's work, Ferdinand and Miranda have fallen in love. Prospero is so impressed by Ariel's matchmaking that he says that he would set Ariel free for that one act. Thus, having fulfilled Prospero's tasks, and Prospero himself now being free to leave the island, Ariel is set free.

...my high school didn't actually manage our shakespeare production in the year i graduated, but Ariel seems a lot more wholesome than Lady Macbeth.

Due to its comedic nature, The Tempest is not rightfully considered to be a highly defining work. But writer Neil Gaiman pointed out in Sandman that The Tempest is sort of an allegory for Shakespeare's life drawing to a close, and laying down the pen.