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)

30.11.18

So Long


So Long

 So long now
since you jumped into death –
36 years, bright lad –
embracing the darkness
of the unknown,
rather than
the surrounding, encroaching
pain …

but my loyalty
is to your laughter,
your forthright gaze,
your arms around me briefly,
the words you inscribed on paper,
the flush on your freckled cheeks

and how resolutely
you straightened your shoulders
after that last time,
turning away.



At 'imaginary garden with real toads' Toni challenges us to write in the mood of Mono no Aware, the Japanese term for wistful sadness about loss or change. Well-timed for me, just as I've been having some nostalgic thoughts on the subject of this poem.
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16 comments:

  1. tonispencer30 November 2018 at 11:12

    Oh Rosemary. We all have these people in our lives who decide to run, to make that last jump. This poem is beautiful in its wistfulness, its sadness, its love

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  2. Therisa's World30 November 2018 at 11:19

    Special man, who captured your heart, Rosemary, Do wish, I can finish a person, such as this. May his memory continue to live, within your heart and the words that you write.

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  3. KB30 November 2018 at 12:06

    Heartbreaking

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  4. Sherry Blue Sky30 November 2018 at 13:52

    Oh so sad. I can see that squaring of his shoulders the last time turning away. I love "my loyalty is to your laughter". I can see those freckled cheeks. So beautiful. Mono no Aware for sure.

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  5. Margaret30 November 2018 at 14:21

    OH, you really get me at the second stanza and then a crushing blow with the ending. Powerful!

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  6. Jim30 November 2018 at 17:00

    The second stanza is what sustains the writer now that he is gone. Those things, some intangible, are all there is now.
    ..

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  7. Kerry O'Connor30 November 2018 at 19:20

    my loyalty
    is to your laughter

    Wonderful affirmation!

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  8. Marian30 November 2018 at 21:48

    Oh, man. Linger in the memories.

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  9. Ron.1 December 2018 at 01:38

    I cannot comment; can only bow.

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  10. Laura Bloomsbury1 December 2018 at 03:44

    Rosemary - of all the poignant lines the "bright lad" hits hardest. There is optimism in your memories - looking onward at the good times. I have yet to reach there

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  11. Helen1 December 2018 at 03:52

    Heartbreaking ~ at the same time uplifting. A huge sigh from me.

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  12. Yvonne Osborne1 December 2018 at 05:39

    Sad. So sad...the turning away.

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  13. purplepeninportland.com1 December 2018 at 07:26

    So sad, with the turning back that you would hope was a change of heart. Lovely poem, Rosemary.

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  14. Old Egg1 December 2018 at 12:26

    How beautifully you wrote this Rosemary. Just sufficient detail to give the poem the credibility needed to touch the reader.

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  15. rallentanda2 December 2018 at 01:43

    So terribly terribly sad.

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  16. brudberg2 December 2018 at 04:14

    So sad but still the happiness of having that laughter still... very wistful and good.

    ReplyDelete

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