Triumphant Lady of Shalott

Always, the touch of his hand 

on mine, is unforeseen

as if he had just rounded 

the river’s bend and 

caught me between 

a rock and a hard place.

And with his touch 

I am reminded

that wild water lilies just 

appear - to float upon a peerless mirror

in truth, they are rooted in the earth below 

and pierce the pond . . . 

and pierce the pond . . . and so,

I am lifted from the tangle of reflection, 

and the rolling ripples of thought 

to which I have confined myself

and, happily, return to the real world: 

Triumphant Lady of Shalott.

 

note:  The Lady of Shalott is a mythic character who lives by herself in a castle, on an island upstream from Camelot. She is tasked with looking at the world outside in a mirror, and to weave what she sees into a tapestry.  She is forbidden to look at the outside world directly.  One day, she sees the reflection of Sir Lancelot riding by.  Although she knows that it is forbidden, she looks out the window at him. The mirror shatters, the tapestry flies away in a tempestuous wind and, in the ensuing storm, the lady leaves her castle, finds a boat, and drifts down the river to Camelot, where she dies.

The Lady of Shalott is one of Tennyson's most enduring poems and the story was illustrated in several paintings – the most popular being by John William Waterhouse in 1888.  The story is, of course, loaded with symbolism.  Agatha Christie wrote a Miss Marple Mystery entitled "The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side", which I read and loved.  (where movie star, Marina Gregg is seen with a "frozen" look on her face likened to the Lady of Shalott, as though "doom has come upon her").  And novelist Jessica Anderson wrote Tirra Lirra by the River (which I haven’t yet read) but which is the story of a modern woman's decision to break out of confinement.

photos:  Wild Water Lilies – W. Bourke

The Lady of Shalott, by John William Waterhouse, public domain.

© 2014 Wendy Bourke