If I could speak to my: If I could speak to my younger self I would tell her to choose the one who looks within and loves more than the surface. That's why these lines resonated with me so well and spoke volumes with shattering eloquence:
"I craved to know you from the inside
To cradle your heart as it beat fiercely
Bathe in the baritone of your voice"
An electrifying inner union expressed through physical passion. Powerful stuff!
If a poet's calling is to: If a poet's calling is to give a voice to the ungraspable, you excelled in your purpose. Waves of majesty, wonder and heartfelt praise thunder through each line.
Magnificent!
.: and I prepare to enter luxury again so I'm attempting to make my home a little cleaner in the meantime so I'm not too culture shocked when I come back from the lands of hot running water and uninterrupted power
Your work, as always, is a: Your work, as always, is a drill into the hollows of the soul. Where echoes are begged to speak within, till they pound down the walls of separation and isolation which encase emptiness. I truly hope that these efforts lead you to solace.
Thank you for the reply. I: Thank you for the reply. I concede that I may have misunderstood your intention. Perhaps my original comment should be removed.
I applaud, and agree with,: I applaud, and agree with, your assertion that this dire problem needs to be addressed---loudly and relentlessly---because it happens too much and too often (well, even one incident is one too much). But, although I agree with you on the dire seriousness of it, I think the attempt to "rewrite" one of the holiest hymns of one of the year's two Holiest seasons, is a disrespectful toward the hymn and the season. Just my opinion, and I do applaud bringing this horrible social problem to the fore of your readers attention; that is most commendable.
This is truly beautiful and: This is truly beautiful and engrossing. But my favorite verse is the sixth one:
"rivers flow
through the night
herding the storm
to far away"
While I don't live by a river, it reminds me a lot of the creek near my cabin, rushing along after a thaw or rain. Sometimes it sounds like a small waterfall, as the the water races downhill, heading into a river and then out into a lake somewhere hours away. Spectacular, the way that you put the visual.
It is a happy coincidence,: It is a happy coincidence, not an allusion. I feel that special feeling that comes with discovering a new style and I am excited to explore it and happy that the change of pace has moved you.
As always, I am very grateful for your encouragement and praise. I am thinking of creating a series for it to sit in and I hope that the follow up poems inspire you similarly