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)

28.11.19

Nightly


Nightly

I long for sleep
or tell myself I do,
yet keep deferring
bed-time.

I still sleep 
in the big bed
I shared with you,
when you were alive.

I have the bed
all to myself now,
can stretch out as I like;
I don’t.

When I retire 
late, alone, wakeful,
the true longing
is not for sleep.


Written for Poets United's Midweek Motif ~ Longing

Each verse is a separate 'American sentence' – just because I wanted to give it some structure. This means that each could also stand alone, senryu-like.

12 comments:

  1. Nice, a very pure no nonsense poem
    Happy Wednesday. Thanks for dropping by to read mind

    Much✏love

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  2. Heartfelt emotions. The strands of memories truly hold us together.

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  3. Amen to that! You capture this so beautifully!

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  4. Ah, this is longing expressed to perfection.

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  5. Wonderfully simple work. You make it look easy; we know it's not.

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  6. An emotional subject that many go through silently. Thank you for giving voice to all.

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  7. Rosemary,

    Simply a most poignant poem. Longing is at its core...

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  8. The poem is beautiful as well as poignant. One could feel a tangible absence here.

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  9. I've been married to the same woman for decades, many of those years very well. I doubt I will outlive my wife but one of us will go on and bear the resonance of that love. I pray its absence will be a presence as you write here, painful as it must be. That the echo is testament to the greatness of the music.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, to forget would be worse. That last sentence of your comment is poetry in itself!

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  10. I love the separateness of these stand-alone poems. Life can be lonely at times.

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