Columnists
The Peacock & The Koh-i-Noor
A Poem by MICHELE GIBSON
The hideous part of the peacock is the gnarled legs and gait
It plods like a ballerino to a reluctant wedding, with a homely mate
Beyond that, poise and beauty rise to mirror the ideal and manifest aesthetic forms
At rest, wise and elusive, and from this a Peacock Throne is born
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A thousand pearls dipped in the purest gold, 12 knobby columns bear the precious enamelled canopy
A shelter for Shah Jahan, a terrace for his ease and contemplative majesty
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Clusters of brilliant diamonds, rubies and emeralds fan gracefully to either side
Enhancing his illustrious consideration
With the brightest diamond at the pinnacle, where it lent clarity to his deliberation
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The Koh-i-Noor becomes a doomed gift to a plotting wicked child
And is shepherded to Persia when Delhi was defiled
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Some say the Peacock throne was stolen by the British as they seized the air in Nadir's throat
And placed on board a ship for Africa, which failed to float
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The priceless relic sits on a careless ocean floor?
Quite convenient one could say
Others claim the throne destroyed (duly mumbled as the prize was whisked away?)
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In grief and admiration other Peacocks then are born but none to share its humbling splendours
Many tried and hoped to match this marvellous and missing wonder, but they are
pretenders
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There have been other thrones; the Chrysanthemum, the Dragon, the Phoenix and the Lion
They harbour other travesties
But the radiant Peacock longs to show her face, and grace an heir with gilded majesties
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The Koh-i-Noor returns to bless a treaty with Shah Shuja, and Ranjit Singh the warrior king
Ranjit agrees to arm and to restore the Shah and this the price, the brilliant offering
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An heirloom for two very different sons; parted, plundered, ransomed and retrieved
The Koh-i-Noor seduces other Kingdoms, the Peacock throne is muzzled and deceived
November 6, 2010