Poem 2 for today taken from the napowrimo.net prompt:

Day 2 NaPoWriMo

“Taking a cue from our craft resource, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that plays with voice. For example, you might try writing a stanza that recounts something in the first-person, followed by a stanza recounting the same incident in the second-person, followed by a stanza that treats the incident from a third-person point of view. Or you might try a poem in the form of a dialogue, which necessarily has two “I” speakers, addressing two “you”s. Another way to go is to take an existing poem of yours or someone else’s, and try rewriting it in a different voice. The point is just to play with who is speaking to who and how. Happy writing!”

Role Reversal, a poem in two voices

(The Girl and the Bear)

All night I could not sleep
the bed creaking under you
as you shifted to a comfortable spot

In the early morning sun, watery
through window, I think about leaving
but you hold me back, your heavy paw upon
my shoulder, both comfort and shackle.

Do not go, Calliope, your kindness,
your gentle smile hold back despair.
In this bare bleak room, no place for bears,
this bed a comfort after years of concrete
in that barred cage until you set me free.

Come, now, come back to bed,
I will wrap you in my black fur,
we can sleep away the hours.

Carol A. Stephen