Saturday, June 08, 2013

Poetry to Prompts

Written to the prompts of "letter" and "starlight".




Letter to Starlight and You

There is a certain shade of blue
that belongs to dusk,
a sky-blue-pink
that draws my eyes to the window,
that draws me out the door,
a softening of the hard line
where earth meets sky
so that I can see past the horizon
into everlasting space,
the space where you are
now that I can’t see you.

If the sky were a map
you’d be here, just above the line
where tree and air intersect,
a red pin marking the exact spot
where I saw you last,
bed-bound and bruised, breathing
one more and one more and one last
breath.

The sky was dusky that night, too,
headed toward black, and we two headed
in different directions; you to an unknown
destination and I to home, where
out my window, I watched the stars
blink into view.

7 comments:

Marc Leavitt said...

Pauline:
I just read "Letter to Starlight and You."

I especially liked your use of alliteration and repetition.

First stanza: "Blue, belong, blue, space, space";

Second stanza: "Bed-bound,bruised, breathing, breath, headed, headed, home";

Third stanza: "Dusky, different, directions, destination."

The "B" and "D" word-sounds telegraph the emotional message, and the "H" words offer an exclamatory signal of abrupt conclusion.

I'm not grading your work - just expressing pleasure at the result.

My Maine Blog said...

Very beautiful and also very sad. It's heartwarming and lonely at the same time and brings about many emotions from the heart and soul. To me it says you are missing someone who has passed and yet the beauty of the starlight somehow softens the loss and brings a feeling of peace. I can really relate to this poem in so many ways. Thank you for sharing your lovely writing.

Brian Miller said...

you took us deep into memory/emotion there...love the if the sky was a map...leading back to the last place you saw them...mm...def feel the missing/longing there...nice

happy saturday.
smiles.

Helen said...

.. beautiful description of my favorite time of the day.

Out on the prairie said...

Very well done, so peaceful

Anonymous said...

Lovely. I feel very moved reading that

Pauline said...

Marc - I appreciate your assessment. It is always helpful to know where one has gone either right or wrong in trying to convey and image with words.

MMB - you are right. A beloved friend was in his last moments and I was privileged to be there with him to say goodbye.

Brian - you are master at taking us there. I'm glad I succeeded in doing so.

Helen - dawn and dusk, my two favorite times!

OOTP - it was a peaceful time, not dreadful as I had anticipated.

rj - thank you for coming by to read :)