Once Enemies

[milo]

Once Enemies


Today the Knight of Doleful Countenance
would not assault our giants in the sky– 
those monstrous dandelions whose white arms
of balsa-wood moan deeply as they turn
and often break away, or crash and burn.

He of La Mancha, rather, would respect
today’s gaunt windmills’ dated loyalty -
like his to tarnished codes of chivalry -
in still contending with the giant Warming
whose fraudulence collapsed and blew away.

I picture him and bony Rosinante
posed with a giant pinwheel, skeletal,
whose day, like theirs, is done while what remains
recalls old loves, arms bravely raised, campaigns
which, long betrayed, still honor lost ideals.

They try so hard one’s soul must sympathize
with wasted effort, industry, good heart
expended in their quest to save a world
which doesn’t need their rescue, or their part:
pawns moved by folly, tragic from the start.

I think the metaphor is rather clever and I enjoyed the inversion as well as the word play, imagery and thought.  Some of the lines are quite clever(  those monstrous dandelions whose white arms
of balsa-wood moan deeply as they turn)

I appreciate that the narrator refuses to explain themselves but the poem fails when the narraotr goes to extreme lenghts to avoid explaining himself (lines like  He of La Mancha, rather, would respect,  Today the Knight of Doleful Countenance)  and there are some other areas where the phrasing gets clumsy or awkward but you will probably run into those on your edit either way.

Overall, I like the cleverness and i think the metaphor may be yours alone for now - at least I havent run into it yet.

Thanks for posting