Portfolio > Kouros and Koroi: Oils / Poems

He Rushed Forth Without Weapons
By Maj Ragain
A Response Poem to Jessica Damen’s Painting
My Two Selves

My given name is Dylan,
from the Welsh, keeper of the wave,
he who holds the surf
as it crashes into foam.

Early, I grew away from water.
Now, I am wooden,
frozen in the hard grain
of my own doubts, ring after ring
bracing me upright.

Sometimes, I find the heart
to dare with my eyes, square my shoulders,
fill the sail of my skin and ride out
to meet you. Another day, I turn
inward to the cave of my chest
and hide there till you have gone.

I read the little book of tides,
its scripture, tables, times, high, low.
They are in the moon’s keeping,
as am I.

Know me. I am Dylan.
Count me. I am two.

That day I swim with the riptide
beyond the sight of shore,
into the arms of my mother the sea,
when I weave my play
through her long tresses
like a dolphin,
I will be one.
- Maj Ragain

He Rushed Forth Without Weapons - A Response Poem
Poem by Maj Ragain
2002

This painting was included in:
This painting was included:
2002 Vision to Verse - Verse to Vision: A Visual and Poetic Dialogue with
poet Maj Ragain, Verde Gallery, Champaign, Illinois

2013 The Body Beautiful, Featured Artist, Capitol Arts Network, Rockville, MD Curator: Judith HeartSong, Executive Director, CAN