We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

28.2.18

One Day, Not Unwelcome


For the (fictional) series, "Edges".
His Voice 


One Day, Not Unwelcome

Let it mean what it must,
believe it or not as you choose.
The facts will remain the facts.

The Reaper will come 
and I'll find it sweet 
to see him glide in on the tide 

in the dense heat – like a surfer,
or Jesus walking on water –
and by that I'll know him.

Or up on the slope, the scree 
will shift under me and I'll topple
into his waiting arms, happily.

"Here you are!" we'll say to each other
with a little squeal of delight, like old friends,
comfortable and right together.


(I'm not the speaker of this poem.)


Linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #404


27 comments:

  1. I love this response to the old friend Death.........the lack of fear in the narrator is refreshing.

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  2. Enjoyed reading your perspective! :)

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    1. Thanks, but really not my own perspective. It's that of the fictional character whom the poem is giving voice to.

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  3. Back for another read, again delighted at the narrator's sprightly outlook. Smiles.

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  4. If only we could be that confident rather than cross that you hadn't quite finished something like a poem or even a comment on somebody's bl..

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  5. ["Here you are!" we'll say to each other
    with a little squeal of delight, like old friends,
    comfortable and right together.]

    How delightful!!! Happy Sunday Rosemary

    much love...

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  6. He's seems much less grim here than his reputation makes him out to be. But it might be he's a mirror of the soul that approaches him, which means in my case he will make terrible puns and babble on about various nerdy topics.

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  7. "comfortable and right together." oh how sweet it would be if we could topple like this - a delightful death you have conjured - thank you and long live your words!

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  8. This such a delightful perspective on death and reunion of souls, Rosemary! 💜

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  9. Now I have the coolest image of the The Reaper on a surfboard, scythe in hand, black swim trunks, grinning into the sun...

    The speaker makes the whole thing sound so comfortable. I like that. I like that a lot.

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  10. It sounds like a happy reunion of old friends.

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  11. You might be right. At least I hope you are right. When the end comes, we will embrace it with faith and trust & meet it with delight!

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  12. A refreshing perspective from this narrator.....I hope to have that delight in my perspective one day perhaps.....

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  13. I think that this is how we all want to end... to welcome death like an old friend... Like the tale of the three brothers in Harry Potter...

    Greeting Death as an old friend, they departed this life as equals.

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  14. your character, to find the Reaper not unwelcome, is really something... :)

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  15. Death as a friend...a refreshing change- one not be feared.

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  16. I think there is a time that we welcome death--if we are lucky enough to have lived that long and that fully--

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  17. I love this too, although like (for) you, it does convey my sentiments.
    I would like to live forever...
    Anna :o]

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  18. this prompted some thought and I loved the way you presented the theme

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  19. Hahaha well written whatever the intent.
    ZQ

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  20. When the end comes hopefully we can embrace it and accept it.

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  21. You've implanted a nice possibility in my mind. Wouldn't it be wonderful to reunite with death, like with an old friend.

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  22. I really enjoyed this - perhaps because it is written from a 'head space' I would love to be able to find my way to. Not there yet ... though it is lovely to contemplate that it is possible.

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  23. "Here you are!" we'll say to each other
    with a little squeal of delight, like old friends,
    comfortable and right together.

    Love these sort of close, Rosemary, even if it is make-believe!

    Hank

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  24. The best way to go, Rosemary, welcoming Death with open arms and going gently into that dark night. I especially like the lines:
    '...up on the slope, the scree
    will shift under me and I'll topple
    into his waiting arms, happily'.

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