Night of the Meagle

On the slopes of Mount Impossible

I fell into a dream

and there I met a Meagle

most unlikely it may seem.

Naturally at first confused

I knew not what it ought to be

I’m sure it must have felt the same

whilst mulling over me.

 

My firm grip on reality

Left me grasping in confusion

anything so Meagleness

quite insane without solution.

A primate form of legs and tail

no trace of upper limb

Buzzard-Eagle eyes and beak

mordantly quite grim.

 

With no idea what I might say

to a being such as this

loudly I expelled my breath

a fizz-like sounding hiss

casually the Meagle turned

with a sideways glare upon

“So rudely you address me, Sir

without words to ponder on”

 

“Of all you see,” it said to me 

“and everything that’s hidden”

“I am the Regal Meagle 

any questions are forbidden”

“So look again and think some more 

before you dare expound

On the silly introduction 

that you made with serpent sound”

 

Oh Regal Meagle patently 

my digression I deplore

I apologise my thoughtlessness 

regretful evermore

The Meagle merely shook his tail 

then turned to face the light

as I watched it climb the mountain slope
I dwindled out of night

 

This poem is about a dream in which the narrator encounters a creature called the Meagle. The Meagle is described as having a primate form with a buzzard-eagle head. The narrator is initially confused and unsure how to address the Meagle, who admonishes him for his rude introduction. The Meagle declares itself the "Regal Meagle" and forbids questions, prompting the narrator to apologise for his thoughtlessness. The poem ends with the Meagle climbing a mountain slope as the narrator's dream fades.