Molly Grue

I had rosy-cheeks and sparkling eyes
when I was eight years old.
I loved to dance, feeling the swirl
of imaginary gowns around my ankles.

I almost thought I saw you then,
until adult voices called me out
to tell me about chores left undone.

There was still gold in my hair at sixteen.
But I swayed to different songs,
all about moonlight promises that I knew
would evaporate faster than dew.

Did believing in you 
make me more gullible
to frivolous songs 
sung by unskilled bards?

I know that I tried not to believe,
as sixteen faded into the distance,
and gold turned the color of the dishwater
I had my hands in every day.

Disappointment makes an excellent whetstone
for a tongue that wants to hide a tender heart,
still moved by tales of legendary bandits, 
still intrigued by a magician’s words.

Then you arrived,
to fan the cinder of my belief,
when the bags under my eyes
were more noticeable than my lashes.

How could I not scream at you,
for all those times I needed wonder,
looked for it, and all I found
was the sound of my stubborn heartbeat?

Should I start believing again
when the world has almost convinced me
that faith is pointless,
and magic isn’t real?

But,
since the world has done an incomplete job,

I will try to trust 
in what my eyes see
and my heart knows,
and start dancing again. 



Still from the movie The Last Unicorn


Liner Notes for this Groove: This poem was inspired by a prompt (I came up with!) over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Sidekicks in the Spotlight. I based it on a character from the cult classic, The Last Unicorn. 

50 comments:

  1. What a wonder! Thank you for the look into hope renewed. Beautiful, Rommy!

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  2. " How could I not scream at you,
    for all those times I needed wonder..."

    I wonder how many have shouted those lines, with tears and rage and hurt, into the wind. This is heartbreaking, Rommy.

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    Replies
    1. The scene from the movie that inspired it was heartbreaking as well. I loved this movie so much as a child. It wasn't the love story between the unicorn and prince that stayed strongest in my memory. It was Molly Grue's anger.

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    2. This second reading (and five years) have helped me see so much clearer the roots of Molly Grue's anger. Time and experience are such good readers.

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    3. They are also terrific editors. :D

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  3. How inspiring! I love your poem.

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  4. "Disappointment makes an excellent whetstone
    for a tongue that wants to hide a tender heart,
    still moved by tales of legendary bandits
    and still intrigued by a magician’s words."

    my favourite verse from your very intriguing write today, thanks for your very nice prompt

    much love...

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  5. I love the way you got under her teenage skin:
    'I know that I tried not to believe,
    as sixteen faded into the distance,
    as gold turned the color of the dishwater
    I had my hands in every day.'

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    Replies
    1. One of the fun parts about this prompt is imagining what Molly might have been like as a child. I really enjoyed tracing out parts of her teenage self.

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  6. The Last Unicorn is one of my all-time favorite movies from childhood. Beautiful, haunting -- and poignant -- I was transfixed by it and its music. Love, love your poem. Molly was a strong character with plenty of spunk & heart, indeed she could've been a hero/lead. As can the girl who wrote this poem (whether she is 16 or now, all grown up)...Keep dancing! Thank you for sharing.

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    1. I always liked the mix of tender and salty in Molly's personality. As much as I loved the unicorn's story, I thought Molly's story was so compelling and I wanted to know more.

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    2. You know there is more, right? It won the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy award for a novelette.

      Called 'Two Hearts'. You can read it on line for free. For FREE!

      You might need a hanky and a hug...

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    3. OMG...no I did not know! I'll need to check that out after I get back from tea this afternoon.

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    4. Oh, I just looked up the book (The Last Unicorn; will check Two Hearts also). Oh, Peter BEAGLE! Of course! Would read anything he wrote.

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    5. I need to read more books by him.

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  7. Disappointment makes an excellent whetstone
    for a tongue that wants to hide a tender heart

    Outstanding, Rommy.

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  8. I was wondering how this would end, would she succumb to total discouragement or would she overcome. She willed the last, I was pleased.
    ..

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    Replies
    1. Well, you ought to see the original movie, The Last Unicorn, for the full answer to that. But as can be surmised here, Molly is a resilient woman.

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  9. Such are the tears of a lover. Always looking for the river of hope

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  10. I seem to have attached myself to the same sentence as many others so I will not repeat it here... alas the last unicorn was unknown to me, but still those lines changed it for me... I guess there are moments we need unicorns in our lives.

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  11. I read the book The Last Unicorn many years ago, and as I read your poem, I felt the need to believe in magic still.

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    Replies
    1. I think we could all use a bit of magic now and then.

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  12. I will try to trust
    in what my eyes and heart see,
    and start dancing again

    One has to be confident enough within our own wits and not to be led by what others push over to us.Very true Rommy!

    Hank

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  13. Oh! Oh, see? Me and you and Momma Fortuna, too.

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  14. I've never seen The Last Unicorn. Now I absolutely must hunt it up! However I don't need to have seen it to thoroughly 'get' Molly Grue from your wonderful expression of her feelings over her whole life.

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  15. Replies
    1. I plan to keep my feet limber for as long as possible.

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  16. So many memorable lines in this poem.
    Your character is living a mundane existence, and one day she found life again. And magic. :)

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    Replies
    1. And magic is a precious thing to rediscover.

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  17. "Disappointment makes an excellent whetstone
    for a tongue that wants to hide a tender heart"
    My tongue does that sometimes and holding it doesn't always work.

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  18. "Then you arrived,
    to fan the cinder of my belief,
    when the bags under my eyes
    were more noticeable than my lashes."

    I have never seen this movie, but I love your writing.

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