Monday, October 11, 2010

Not Because of You (Poem)

Not Because of You

Close your eyes.
Frame the motions

of mottled leaf
flip-flopping its distance

from limb to shoe tip.
Have no fear.

This is no test
of your imagination.

It's not even about what you see
or don't.

The leaf falls, not
because of you.

© 2010 Maureen Doallas
_________________________

I wrote this poem for Carry on Tuesday, which each week provides a prompt that participants are to use wholly or partly in an original poem or prose piece.

The prompt for Tuesday, October 12, consists of the opening line of the John Lennon song, "Beautiful Boy": Close your eyes, / have no fear, . . . (A video recording of the song is here.)

To read other Carry on Tuesday contributors' poems or prose for Prompt #74, go here.

29 comments:

Whitesnake said...

:-) Loved this one!

Anonymous said...

the leaf falls
not because of you.

i really like that.

Anonymous said...

I'll come back for this one

Kathleen said...

Lovely. So simple, so quietly profound.

A. Jay Adler said...

You have a Zen koan in there, Maureen.

Joyce Wycoff said...

Lovely ... and a lovely reminder of our place in the universe.

Anonymous said...

"the leaf falls, not because of you..." That is a wry and poignant verse that leaves me wanting to repeat it over and over again.

Claudia said...

..i loved..flip-flopping its distance..and i saw it fall - even if it didn't fall for me..this was beautiful maureen

Aoife.Troxel said...

Deep...The mottled leaf image was divine by the way! Nice poem. Looking forward to reading more.

mrs mediocrity said...

love the imagery and the message, time, nature, go on without us.

Glynn said...

You write beutiful poems, Maureen. and this one -- well, it's simply breathtaking.

Brian Miller said...

we are not the center of the universe...i thought we learned that long ago, but we often forget...nice one shot!

Anonymous said...

Powerful message and poignant reminder... 'it's not about me'...

Anonymous said...

Wow, extremely clever ending and crystal clear the manner in which your lines prompt the reader to reflect. Profound poem.

Ben Langhinrichs said...

Others have said it better, but those last two lines are wonderful!

KB said...

There are some things that should not and cannot be controlled.

Shell said...

So elegantly written...

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, this is just beautiful, breathtaking... And a deep lesson in there, perfectly framed. Well done!

Jerry said...

I was told again today that it is not about me...and then I read this. Nice.

Jerry said...

I was told again today that it is not about me...and then I read this. Nice.

S. Etole said...

This message bears repeating ... and you do it so eloquently.

Anonymous said...

A sweet example of autumn imagery.

Anonymous said...

I know I've read this already, and perhaps my 4 year old had distracted my commentary, lol! :)

~ This is incredibly well done, and that sense in the leaf...no matter what happens, life still goes round and round....you gave this feeling such "life" in these words. Beautiful! ~April

signed...bkm said...

lovely ...the last line a quote in itself "the leaf falls - not because of you" Wonderful...bkm

Ben Woodruff said...

Wow! You get lots of comments lol. Congrats on the great poem. Quite a humbling statement there at the end, though it is definitely worth watching the leaf fall, nonetheless. Ciao!

Corbie said...

Great One Shot Maureen. Simple but a great message.

Anonymous said...

Another fabulous one shot Maureen. Love and Light, Sender

Jingle said...

love the spirits in your words.
leaf falls, not because of you,
cool wraping up.

Kathleen Overby said...

What Nancy said. :)