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Amber (Feels Like Honey At First)
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In The Long Shadow of Loss my bright window's still
closed
drying river bed's
hosed
i loved yesterday's
road
breeze brought me a string,
a kite
then gifted me calmness
and, oh,
up until an instant
how i climbed The Sky
a stairway to heaven
is a bridge to nowhere
when trapped inside time
i landed on a branch
amber
feels like honey
at birth
you don't know how good it felt
to be handprints in the concrete
now it's all dried out
trappings
of the past
left behind
memories
visited
by people who were
once children
are still alive
but left all alone
most of the time
amber
feels like honey
at first
my bright window's broken
by a bird
boarded up river bed's
damned
if you do, if you don't
know
tease brought me a fling,
a life
then eternal light
and, oh,
it's been shining through amber
amber
feels like honey
at birth
you don't know how good it felt
to be handprints in the concrete
now it's all dried out
trappings
of the past
left behind
memories
visited
by people who were
once children
are still alive
but left all alone
most of the time
amber
feels like honey
at first
i feel
lost
but you'll find me here
you'll always find me here
This is one of the most
This is one of the most powerful poems I have read recently, and I applaud your accomplishment here. The repetitions and variations on the "amber" phrases remind me of similar patterns in two of T. S. Eliot's poem, The Hollow Men and Ash Wednesday.
I particularly like the last stanza in which you juxtapose the feeling of being lost with the strong assurance of the last two lines. This is paradoxical, but that is the nature of poetry to be paradoxical. This poem is excellent!
Starward
Thank you.
Thank you, both for your appreciation and for catching the paradox. It's funny how, engaged in any state for long enough - even being lost within 'what was lost' - the loop can become a honing beacon, a tether, a place to rest one's head. So familiar that it can become a settler's home.
I'm familiar with The Hollow Men, which is a really fantastic and standout work, even among Eliot's collection, so that is a quite generous and kind a comparison. Happy to know it brought to mind, for you, such greater work.
Not Fond
Of long passages repeated - you must really love those lines.
"I'm still here" resounds over here.
.
~A~
.
It's written as poetic song
It's written as poetic song lyric, hence the repetition. One of my habits is to write music, and this one is for a song I've been working on. Sometimes I leave out the repetition when I post them here, but I felt like it was better to retain the chorus in this case. Not everyone is a fan, I understand.
At least a line connected with you. I'll take that.