Once upon-
he cared- what they thought of him,
Wrenching- at him- soul and limb;
Oh- how things changed;
And the days, of course, as they ran their course,
Only saw things go- from bad to worse;
All became more estranged;
Then came a day- he was faced with death
(Though he wasn't there for love's last breath);
Darkness- swallowed- his light;
'Safe' and 'simple' broke, something black awoke,
Fingers- aching to write
All the prose he wrote- and the poetry,
Available to friends and family,
provided- release;
He wrote long and short- and slow and fast,
Uncovered
some of- his own truth at last;
Mind and heart wouldn't cease;
Language took him- far away from grief,
Daily blown- and battered like a leaf,
He kept at this, day and night;
How, he couldn't say; kept the tears away,
Couldn't fake what he'd write
Rejecting tweets, soundbites and Instagram,
He welcomed
meaning in- like Abraham
Would invite his guests;
Arguing with God- about beliefs
Brought him
no small amount of relief,
He was granted some rest;
And there arose long buried memories;
Breaking past thin mental boundaries,
Strange fancies took flight;
Down upon his knees, whispering- God please,
Please- make it alright
Today, for d’Verse’s “Open Link Night”, I’d like to share a poem that I wrote about ½-a-year ago, only a couple months after creating this blog.
Beautiful and heartfelt, David! ❤
Thanks so much, Cheryl!
Very much so
thanks, Andrew ❤
There’s a sense of relief in this poem that I love.
Thanks, Mrityunjay 🙂
-David
This is a beautiful write David. 👍
Thanks so much 🙂
Writing is such a release and also does allow us to process our emotions as you so aptly describe in this piece. I sense a revelation at the end but not an easy one I feel. Interesting and haunting write!
Yes, not an easy one… that is definitely true, Tricia!
Thank you 🙂
David
That’s a masterpiece.
xoxo
You are consistently way too kind to me, Gabriela. 🙂
-David
Heartfelt, moving. Very well penned David.😊
Thanks, Suzette ❤
Pleasure 😊
Wow! Beautifully articulated!
Thanks, Carol! 🙂
-David
Wow! This is stunning. It reminds me a little bit of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with the writing style, I think. 😀
🙂 Thanks, Lucy. I don’t really know very much about various poet’s writing styles, TBH.
-David
I can feel your pain of loss all through this David. The loss of your father has really taken its toll on you. I hope your writing becomes your therapy and gives you peace.
Dwight
Thank you so much, Dwight! I really feel your kindness through your words.
-David
I am glad…
In addition to being carefully crafted, this piece shows the writer’s journey of discovery and pain, followed by more discovery and pain. Writers are brave. Beautiful and honest poem, David.
Yeah, this one was really from the heart. There’s no other way to describe it.
Thank you very much, Michele.
-David
It shows. 💓
All things lead to the place, in time. Resistance is futile. I hope you obtained the relief you sought.
You know what’s interesting, Lisa?
In Jewish tradition, “the place” is one of our names for “God”.
-David
David, that IS very interesting! Do you have anything in Jewish tradition about “the way”? The way it talked about a lot in philosophical daoism. Dao actually means way.
Lisa,
Yes – absolutely!
There are a couple of related concepts in Judaism. First, when somebody strives to live his/her life according to religious law, that is called “being on THE WAY” – and when one ceases to be religious, one is called “off THE WAY”. (“WAY” = “DEREKH”)
Secondly, the religious law itself is called “HALAKHA” which literally translates to “THE WALKING”. So one follows “HALAKHA” to stay on “THE WAY.”
Much love,
David
I’m not surprised. Joseph Campbell believed that all belief systems are saying the same thing but using different words. At least the ones with good intent! Thanks for the lesson, David.
This is poetry at its best and most personal.
Thank you so, so much. Yes – this one was incredibly personal for me.
-David
P.S. may I ask- do you go by ‘Muri’?
David, David, David… I enjoy the depth of your poetry. Tragedies can open that side to us which we never even knew. Do stay blessed. ❤️❤️
🥰
This is so beautiful! I love the poignancy with which this poem is penned 💝
This definitely came from deep within me, Sanaa. More so than many others.
Thank you,
David
Writing surely is a great healer! No need to stay away from Twitter now we have a poetry platform 😊
Yes, yes, it is.
I enjoyed the rhyming and wordplay in this poem, David, the sense of disjointedness in the opening stanza and the way it shifts and pivots on ‘something black awoke, / Fingers- aching to write’ and then the words begin to flow with only a few hyphenated hesitations. The release is tangible. I love the lines:
‘He wrote long and short- and slow and fast,
Uncovered
some of- his own truth at last;
Mind and heart wouldn’t cease;
Language took him- far away from grief,
Daily blown- and battered like a leaf’.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
I hope the release you sought when you wrote this, did come in some measure. Writing bares our soul if we let it flow and also heals it. Hugs, David.
Thank you so kindly, Punam
-David
You are welcome, David.
I hope it will be all right. Loss is a hard act to follow, even for God. Writing is cathartic though, as you obviously know.
It’s just about as “all right” as it can be, I suppose, Jane… and, yes, writing helps me tremendously.
Thank you,
David
A nicely articulated poem, again!!!
🙏🙏🙏
Writing helps us discover ourselves and how to inhabit the world in which we find ourselves. This reminds me both of the process of living that is “Fiddler on the Roof”–arguing with God and persevering–and “Waiting for Godot””–I can’t go on, I must go on. And so we must. (K)
Kerfe, thank you for sharing your wisdom 🙂
Deeply appreciated,
David
David, this is excellent, not clever words or ‘versifying’ but heartfelt and powerful!
Thanks so much, Ashley. Yes, this one is very personal and from my heart.
I really, really love and relate to this poem. Wow… it’s beautiful.
Yeah, actually, I thought of you when I posted it because it’s straight from my heart.
Honestly you are way braver than me. Way, way braver. I tried sharing with my family at first (before blogging, I used to write long group emails… literally decades ago…) but eventually I wanted a community with feedback… and I used a semi-pseudo to feel more free, because I was so blocked, creatively… and the poems I showed to my family as an adult were not well received… so I did it this way. But I think it was a necessary part of my process… things are always changing. Anyway, kudos… your heart is beautiful.