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)

2.5.19

April


April

April began with a song of loss and pain,
a beautiful song, although of grief;
it filled my heart the whole month long.

This April I have walked with death 
alongside poetry. Each held my hand –
sometimes one, sometimes the other. 

Sometimes they held hands with each other,
and both with me; we sometimes danced 
even while April rain kept falling.

All the ghosts of all the loves
drifted like shadows around our dance
or distantly kept pace along the path.

And then, on the final night of April
Samhain arrived, the feast of the dead
when the veil thins and we welcome them.

One by one they came to greet me,
then turned away at last, as death sang
more softly now into the ear of poetry.

April was a song of love, a song
to break my heart. April was a month of rain: 
rain and poetry, and loved ones gone. 


Background story:

In the first prompt for Poems in April (2019) at 'imaginary garden with real toads', Marian included the song 'April, Come She Will' from Simon and Garfunkle, written by Paul Simon and sung beautifully by Art Garfunkle. It must be the only one of their songs I'd not heard before. I fell in love with it, played it over and over, and shared it on my facebook profile. That enabled me to notice comments on it at YouTube, about a tragic loss in Garfunkle's life. I became curious, and went on to immerse myself in Art Garfunkle via his website, his poetry, his journal-like memoir. I had always paid more attention to Paul Simon, thinking him the true creative genius of the duo, and dismissing Art as just a beautiful voice – like many people, I think, including Art himself in a generous and obviously sincere tribute in the memoir. I discovered, to my joy, a perfectly lovely man – modest, humorous, adventurous, deeply philosophical, full of integrity, impressively well-read, devoted to his family, and very creative in his own right in music, writing, and visual art. 

Meanwhile, my own April was taken up in dealing with some recent deaths of loved ones and, inevitably, recalling earlier losses ... as well as finding out about one impending. The April poems, and the S&G song constantly in my head, helped me through it. Thank you, Marian and 'toads'. And of course, for a (Southern Hemisphere) Pagan like me, Samhain being the last night of April was perfect, as I could complete my April journey in a ritual to reconnect lovingly with my dead and then let them return to the spirit land.

Linking this to the first Tuesday Platform after April at 'imaginary garden'.



23 comments:

  1. So beautiful, Rosemary, the passage through April of love and grief.....How I resonate with "April was a song of love, a song to break my heart." Our hearts break so often, in these, our later years, my friend. So many losses, so much love to remember.

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    1. Yes. And still it's 'better to have loved and lost ...'

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  2. This is incredibly gorgeous, Rosemary!💞 I especially resonate with; "All the ghosts of all the loves
    drifted like shadows around our dance or distantly kept pace along the path." April has always been a game changer for me .. every year .. something new takes place.💞

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  3. Seems we are on the same page this week, Rosemary. An incredible poem. Take it and turn it all into poetry!

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  4. I always find April to be a cathartic month, since one has to work through so many emotions to find material for a poem a day. It really helps me psychologically to create rather than fixate or avoid problem areas in my life.

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  5. Just finishing up Beltane in my corner of the world, but this piece let me sip deeply from Samhain's cup and reminds me not just of the beauty of the season, but the peace that comes from walking my path.

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  6. Rosemary, this is really one of my favorites of yours. A beautiful poem...it seemed you reached deep for this one...and your words so true. I am sorry for the losses, but it is said, it is what makes us the deeper women that we are. We are told death is a "part," of life, but oh so hard to bare.

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  7. April is your month, March and June are mine. Such a sad waltz of a poem, a slow dance with pain and loss. And yet this poem sings of resolution and welcoming the pain and the spirits of those who have gone before. a trule lovely poem Rosemary. It is now my favorite of yours. And of course, remembering Selene.

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  8. I love this Beltane dance, Rosemary, even though it is tinged with sadness. I especially enjoyed the lines:
    ‘All the ghosts of all the loves
    drifted like shadows around our dance
    or distantly kept pace along the path’
    and
    ‘One by one they came to greet me,
    then turned away at last, as death sang
    more softly now into the ear of poetry’.

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    1. Beltane for you, Samhain for me, at this time of year – very different festivals. I'm glad you love the poem.

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  9. Yes, the coming of spring it be met with death is a paradox in itself...there is always dying off in the full bloom of spring...bkm

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    1. Here in Australia, you see, it is not Spring but Autumn.

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    2. I should add that although the S&G song is called April, it spans several months, with death occurring in September – Autumn again, it being a Northern Hemisphere song.

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  10. I love this... the terrible loss, but also the beauty of remembering, revisiting in the end.

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  11. You finished April of love up beautifully, Rosemary. I too am a fan of S & G but did not know of the details of which you elaborated, not even in Art's death. I will read up a bit on google when I leave here. Thank you for educating me. Not a major death, but our granddaughter's, KP, Betta Fish died yesterday. The fish had been living with us so it was for us, and her mom, to break that news to KP. It ended in a burial and a nice epitaph which she then wrote. She is 9 1/2.
    ..

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    Replies
    1. I expect that was a major death for your grand-daughter! Good that you were able to help her deal with it.

      I believe Art Garfunkle is still going strong. He suffered a tragic loss IN his life – in 1969 I think – but not OF his life, yet.

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  12. death sang
    more softly now into the ear of poetry.... gosh that's heartbreaking and beautifully written.

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  13. There is a sort of soul music, of silent communal dance (that thunders gentle and rough) in the blood of the living and the energy of the dead, a balance... which I think can only be felt around All Hallows' Eve. Your poem, the dance, the song that crosses The Veil to be shared by loved ones across time and space is a great example of the power of that music, of how it can hurt and heal all at once. All of this makes me think of balance. All of it, including your note.

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  14. This was beautiful Rosemary, full of love and the bittersweetness of fondly remembered loss. Thank you for sharing your heart! I must learn more about Samhain.

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  15. Rosemary, I adore this poem and reflection from beginning to end.
    And here we are now... May, she will stay, rest here in my arms again...
    but she's about to change her tune. We must carry loss in order to experience love, that is the truth.

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