teunc.org Poems

STRANGE ATTRACTION

 

Stop staring at me!


I was a teenage Balrog when I first tried out a whip,
and sliced Hobbits with my sword of stabbing fire;
I could get across a glowing chasm with just one little skip,
and my shade would grow and shrink by my desire.
All the same I often wonder if your love for me is true,
how I seem, and how I truly am perceived.
What is this strange attraction, and how do I look to you?
Tell me now, and please don't let me be deceived.

My cousin Dooley taught me how to crack my whip and glare,
snorting flames out through my nostrils, and to climb
upwards on the many steps they call the Endless Stair,
falling deep and turning into loathsome slime.
But whether I possess a mane I haven't got a clue:
If I lack it, will I yet be well received?
What is this strange attraction, and how do I look to you?
Tell me now, and please don't let me be deceived.

As to form, of man-shape am I, yet of larger growth may be;
every Orc and Troll gives way when I'm around;
when I walk by them a power and a terror walk with me:
not the rudest Orc would dare to make a sound.
Yet some say that I am wingless, yes, it's claimed by quite a few:
If it's so, would you be sorry or relieved?
What is this strange attraction, and how do I look to you?
Tell me now, and please don't let me be deceived.

The Watcher in the Water has put trespassers to flight;
by the West-gate, ripples travel far and wide;
but when lots of mucky tentacles fill everyone with fright,
are they mine, and should I then feel greater pride?
Do I have a beak and feathers, do I have a greenish hue,
horns and tail and all the other things believed?
What is this strange attraction, and how do I look to you?
Tell me now, and please don't let me be deceived.

Yes, it makes me feel so happy when you tell me that I'm sweet,
and you love me, so you say, for many things;
yet all people stare at me as I'm walking down the street,
keen to ascertain the substance of my wings.
And some say that I have none, and the quarrel only grew,
and it's plain that they will never be agreed.
What is this strange attraction, and how do I look to you?
Tell me now, and please don't let me be deceived.

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