Left Standing
A ghost field of columbine shelters
where thick pine laid down arms.
The weeping cherry endures,
a thread-thin measure of hope
held in every fragile blossom
preparing to open on cue.
The world still turns,
and we with it, always
seekers of fire
to temper the brilliance
of gold we mine within.
Having gathered what's past,
we rush toward, forgetting how
our one true moment to discover
is there, wherever we've been
left standing in the dark.
© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
My audio recording of this poem:
Audio Recording of Left Standing by mdoallas
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
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23 comments:
When I listen to you read your poems, I imagine us sitting in a garden, sipping ice cold tea as your words slip silkily into the air between us, filling the space with beauty.
Lovely!
Marueen--stop by my blog at www.widowsphere.blogspot.com and pick up your Liebster Award.
Simply said, yet far from simple in content, always a difficult task to make those two mesh, but well done here, with a music to the cadence and a great sense of exactness in the words.
A lovely reminder for us all to take time to stop and smell the roses, except you said it much more eloquently than that.
Lovely write.
i like the mining of the past and rushing toward we miss the moment...how very true...nice write maureen
Somehow a very haunting poem.
Larry
Maureen~ Beautiful and thought-provoking. I love the ending.
you had me already "A ghost field of columbine shelters
where thick pine laid down arms." That alone would have been enough...but you kept weaving your beautifully chosen words, like spun silk. Brilliant, shining, thank you.
Maureen, this piece is wonderful, and for me, a powerful restating of a strongly held personal belief - the only place in which we can find meaningful clarity, and be truly empowered, is in the ever present 'now'... the elusive secret of life is learning to 'be' wholly present in it...
you say this so well!
I love hearing your voice. You sound younger than I imagined. I think I said the same thing to Nancy, so maybe I just think everyone sounds old. ;)
Beautiful poetry, Maureen.
we rush toward, forgetting how
our one true moment to discover
is there, wherever we've been
left standing in the dark.
I so appreciate how you have written this truth. This reading is excellent and the rhythm is so smooth.
You set the stage and took me back to Aspen - one of "my" spots. But more importantly in this brief, but important piece, you capture so well the difficulty of "staying" present as the mind springs back and forth between an idea of what was and an expectation of what will be somehow missing the now. I enjoyed being in the "now" of this. Excellent work, as always!
Softly woven words in your voice.
Eloquence becomes you and thou art eloquent. Beautiful-- a ghost field of Columbines-- I've also been trying to live in/be more aware of the moment and the quiet fire it offers. Lovely to hear your voice! xxxj
Now this is a great write...reads naturally and all the words fall into place perfectly. // Peter.
Particularly liked
"seekers of fire
to temper the brilliance
of gold we mine within."
Also enjoyed hearing you read this one. The spoken word has many inflections and nuances not always evident in the writ.
nice reading and I so relate to the last two stanza's thank you Maureen...bkm
One word comes to mind... contentment. Great reflection of mankind.
Stunning, thought-provoking. A perfect read for a rainy, almost-autumn eve. Thank-you.
Maybe because of the 9/11 anniversary, I immediately thought of Columbine and that high school tragedy, when you wrote where thick pine laid down arms. That is a beautiful phrase. Then the weeping cherry endures, and I am ready to go on with it. Weeping helps us survive the tragedies. Yes, the world still turns, and it is too fast, or so it seems. Writing and reading a poem like this, so lovely, helps me to pause and not rush.
Quite a lovely image.... Maureen, your line "...measure of hope held in every fragile blossom preparing to open on cue" set this entire piece in motion for me.... It made me re-discover our every hope can indeed be fragile, that the sun will even rise, and every other thing we dream to come true can sometimes fall into the basket of complacency. And then it took me to the end of your poem, where I found the stark understanding that the realization of our hopes and dreams are standing right in front of us sometimes, we just didn't see them there.... I apologize if that wasn't your intention but that is what I saw here, and I think it is beautiful... I see that you are with blogger so I'm going to sign this with my blogger account, but my OpenLinkNight submission is at Wordpress, the address is http://johnallenrichter.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/circles-of-the-merry-go-round/>Worpress address
Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem.
That one true moment - that is so right. Excellent poem, Maureen.
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