rabid1st: (Default)
[personal profile] rabid1st
Two of my dearest friends have lost those dear to them in the last two months. Words cannot abate the loss or still the frenzy of the mind occupied with grim mortality, however, there is a comfort in poetry...the soothing rhythm of it, I believe.

And so I offer two poems of comfort for my friends. The first is a bit spiritual for these two people...

A Poem
by Mary Oliver


The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,

shoulders, and all the rest
at night
in the black branches,
in the morning

in the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would rather

plumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,

lime and appetite,
the oceanic fluids;
it needs the body's world,
instinct

and imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,

to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is --

so it enters us --
in the morning
shines from brute comfort
like a stitch of lightning;

and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body

...and so...I offer a less brilliantly crafted, but perhaps more appropriate verse, as well..

A Poem
by Me


I had the dream
of missing you, again
of missing you, forever
of rushing for a train
that's just pulled out.

What I missed most
was your smile.
All my memories of you have it.
I take photos
from the album one by one.

Familiar laughter in your eyes,
I hear it ghosting
through the air.
Echoes fill this
hollow room inside me.

And I think I never told you
how vast that heart space is
where you'll sing and smile
and laugh for all my days.

I had the dream
of missing you, again,
of missing you, forever,
and I think I never told you,
never saying all those things
we never say.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] purecreation.livejournal.com
I'm so sorry. *hugs* :( The poems are both beautiful.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
Thank you, sweetie! It has been very hard on them and all any of us really have to offer are comforting distractions.

Rae

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auntiesuze.livejournal.com
Oh dear. I'm very sorry for your friends. The poems are beautiful (I love yours!).

P.S. I watched the finale today. Stick with BSG. I'm not sure what you'll think of it, but I was satisfied (and got my cry on, 'cause that's what I do).

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
Thank you for the kindness re: my poem. But sadly, I keep tweaking it...finding fault. Must! Stop! Tweaking!

As for BSG...well...I've heard a few things that make me cringe...but most people do seem to be satisfied with it. I think I will try to watch it with some detachment and see how I do.

I do think it is marvelously written...but it frustrates me very much. I want to tweak it, too.

Rae

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thisficklemob.livejournal.com
Thank you, Rae.

I think I said everything I needed to, except, you're right... there's no way to convey the vastness.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 03:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
I'm glad you got to say what you needed to say. And I hope you were there with him like you wanted to be.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 02:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dualbunny.livejournal.com
These are both beautiful. Thank you for sharing with us.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 03:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
Thank you, bunny! I just needed to say something. I wrote mine about my brother, around the time he had his heart attacks.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 03:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] np-complete.livejournal.com
That's a really lovely poem you wrote. I'm adding it to Memories.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 04:26 am (UTC)
fishsanwitt: (Default)
From: [personal profile] fishsanwitt
Yes.

Thank you.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 09:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gobi-rex.livejournal.com
Thank you for sharing these, Rae.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 10:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
You are welcome, Gobi! I hope they help someone feel a little better in their grief.

Rae

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 09:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blueinsideout.livejournal.com
Thank you so much for sharing that poem. The eight anniversary of my uncle's death was just a few days ago, and this really touched me. He was only thirty years old when he finally succumbed to the brain tumor he'd been battling for five years.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-22 10:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabid1st.livejournal.com
Hugs for your grief. Death is just so hard to comprehend. I think that's why we are so overcome...we can't imagine the vast loss of a person in the world. And I always wonder how we can have wars, when so many of us know what it is to lose someone.

If my poem helped you then I'm glad I put it online.

Rae

(no subject)

Date: 2009-03-23 04:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyofgallifrey.livejournal.com
I'm reading this as I get ready for bed and I'm looking for tissues. Today marked 8 months since I lost mom. Some hurts heal, some don't, and you learn to live with it.

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