Already what we say is meaningless
But something more than meaning drives us on,
Some instinct from the dark heart of the past
Strikes out with a viper's terrible tongue.
Our pride is scorched. We smoulder and burn,
Heaping indignities upon the flames
Relentlessly. We slander without reason
And, without justice, apportion blame.
I stumble out of bed and stub my foot.
At once the licking flames flicker and die.
You fuss round with medicaments. A wave
Of caring floods your cooling arm and thigh.
Soft now, your eyes brim with solicitude.
Silence, shaped like a vase, unbroken
As a frozen wave, contains the pain.
Our salamander love endures, awoken,
Persisting even when the vase lies shattered,
When the wave sunders, when the flame flares again.
9 comments:
Very well done, Robert. I like the journey from affliction to love and back again. Aren't our emotions volatile?
I admire those who can manage to include rhyme in poetry so that it adds to the pleasure and elegance of the work.
Strong stuff Robert.
Ah, this brings a tear, Robert. I agree with Dan, the back and forward of relationship is well felt here. The rhyme does contribute much. For me, it soothes and works my heart. These are evocative shapes: the viper, salamander, flame, silence, shaped like a vase.
Reminded me of the over-quoted Tolstoy quote. I'll quote it again:
"One ought only to write when one leaves a piece of ones flesh in the ink-pot each time one dips one's pen."
What you have put so lyrically is marriage at its best.
Already what we say is meaningless. . . .
I know it well and I also know the sweet comfort of forgetting the hurtful words.
"something more than meaning drives us on"
This is meaningless, but I know exactly what you mean - if you know what I mean.
...Tramp
Thanks all!
Tramp - you have unerringly put your finger on the bit of the poem I was worried about. I think 'more than meaning' perhaps suggests 'greater than meaning' - which is not what I meant at all. As you say, logically anything more than meaning (or less than meaning) is meaningless - though, actually, 'meaningless' is what I meant! Going round in circles here ...
The words are so difficult to read if one has a visual issue and I do. Though golden in appearance the font is very hard for my eyes to really grasp. A deeper tone might work better.
KleinsteMotte: Good point. I'll see what I can do.
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