LES MERTON
Medusa’s Last Dream
Writhing snakes relax
her with soft caresses.
She dreams:
of youth, her beauty;
flowing raven tresses,
puberty, womanhood.
Glances from men,
lips made for kissing
and unfulfilled desires.
When men
look at her now
they are turned to stone.
She becomes restless
feels a stirring
in her womb:
the dream changes,
to a horse – Pegasus
a horse with wings . . .
Les Merton was made a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow in 2004 for services to Cornish Literature. He is the founder and editor of Poetry Cornwall and the author of seventeen books, six of which are poetry collections.
