Nobody’s Around
The news today from my bed
is that all the news is bad.
I’m advised, ’Have a good nap!’
but my tears don’t let me sleep.
The news is: you are not there.
Yet nor are you absent, dear.
Memory has you appear
(at the same time as gone) here.
In public cheerful, not sad,
I grieve alone and unheard.
I grieve alone and unheard.
That’s it. There’s nothing to add.
There’s no new news from my bed.
For Day 11 of April Poet, the prompt at 'imaginary garden with real toads' is The News From Your Bed – which is a song from which we could use a line or phrase; or else we could simply write about the news from our own bed. I did both. (The phrase I picked is the one I use as my title.)
The form is loosely based on the qijue or seven-syllable jueju, a Chinese form. But that is actually far too complex to copy properly in English; for one thing it requires a particular pattern of the tonal language which seems impossible for English to reproduce. (This would be an extended jueju anyway, being more than one quatrain.)
The form is loosely based on the qijue or seven-syllable jueju, a Chinese form. But that is actually far too complex to copy properly in English; for one thing it requires a particular pattern of the tonal language which seems impossible for English to reproduce. (This would be an extended jueju anyway, being more than one quatrain.)
I so know this feeling. I love the prompt. My oWn dirge formed as i read yours.
ReplyDeleteHow sad, I have empathy for the heart broken. 😔
ReplyDeleteBless your heart Rosemary. I know you miss Selene. How could the news be good without her?
ReplyDeleteThat form sounds both fascinating and impossible in English, though who knows, maybe not? In any event, you've caught the tone of what you wanted to convey, Rosemary. And good for you for still being current with 11 poems so far! it isn't easy!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully evocative, Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteSelene? Isn't that your cat? Did something happen??? :-(
ReplyDeleteYes, on March 4. She'd been a very sick girl for many months, but excellently controlled so she was happy and outwardly well until a sudden, rapid decline over a couple of days. I knew she wouldn't last the year out, but had not expected it to be so soon. For further details scroll back a few posts to 'Farewelling Selene' and also check the link there to my SnakyPoet blog. (Or don't. They're tear-jerkers.)
DeleteActually at the moment that post should appear if you just scroll to the bottom of this page, as it's topping the list of 'most popular posts' at present. Selene got to be a bit of a celebrity via my facebook posts!
DeleteOh, this breaks my heart. Your precious kitty has become so much a part of us who have followed her journey.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is as if many people knew her quite well and responded to her. Which is somehow comforting now.
DeleteThis is a stirring tribute to those who are no longer around to nap with us. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI feel strongly for you over your loss of Selene, and also not too long ago, your husband.
ReplyDeleteWe never completely stop grieving for a pet we have lost. My Adi, Beagle Dog, died in 2012 and I still miss her terribly. She was my buddy. Incidentally. About a fourth of my blogs until then concerned Adi.
..
It can be such a close bond!
Deletesigh. My kitties often lay at my feet and I can't move or I have to lay at an odd angle. So I lay at an odd angle. I don't have a choice :) My husband who professes not to like cats, lays at odd angles as well - that's one way to know you've got a good man :) Sorry for your loss.
ReplyDelete(Smile) of course you don't have a choice. And yes, that's a good man!
DeleteYour poem touched me, Rosemary, having experienced feline loss myself. All I can do is send you my heartfelt sympathy.
ReplyDeleteAppreciated, Kim.
DeleteRosemary, I don't know, if I could be able to hold it together, should Venus, Squeak or Star died. Last Sunday, marked Venus and Squeak's 11th birthday. May Selene live forever, in your heart and poetry. Bless her soul.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Therisa.
DeleteSuch a difficult experience to get through, I know. The poem is sadly beautiful.
ReplyDelete