'How many carats should I weigh this love?'
This love
can’t walk on water
won’t fit your finger
doesn’t melt pain
promises nothing
rescues no-one.
This love
sees with the heart
walks through walls
gives the invisible
a dream that grows
real roses.
From my recent chapbook, Letters to a Dead Man,* released
2023. (This piece first written 1982.)
For Friday Writings #130 at Poets and Storytellers United,
Magaly invites us to be inspired by a quotation from a book
we've just read. I just read the delightful The Lost Bookshop
by EvieWoods, in which one character tells another that a
certain inscription in French 'means that one sees clearly only
with the heart.' He then notes that it is a quotation from
Antoine de Saint-Exupery – which is where I first came across
it, in the book The Little Prince, translated as: 'It is only with
the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible
to the eye' (the original source of my allusion in this poem –
which, obviously, was not written for the present prompt, but
fits it serendipitously).
*Letters to a Dead Man is obtainable via my website
www.nissen-wade.com
So tender and every chosen word so carefully placed - Jae
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jae. It means much, as you yourself are a master of tenderness, and of well-chosen words well-placed.
Deletea dream that grows real roses... so many layers in that line!! Love this poem. Also love all things "Little Prince".....
ReplyDeletexxx
DeleteLovely poem and very insightful . - great last line .
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alan.
DeleteTrue love? I best like the line, "won’t fit your finger" is talking of love, but I read it as the 'wedding ring'. They often fake marriage to someone, or perhaps to all.
ReplyDelete..
Yes I did mean to imply a wedding ring, in lines saying all the things 'this love' did NOT promise. A true love all the same.
Deletea dream that grows real roses Love it A beautiful poem
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marja.
DeleteRosemary, Short succinct, beautifully balanced - I admire this very much. A real pleasure to read - tells its own story...
ReplyDelete" A dream that grows
real roses..."
Thanks, Scott, for these kind words, much appreciated.
DeleteThoughtful and well constructed.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteJust beautiful. I love the a dream that grows real roses. I think some loves can walk on water.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Colleen. It was Jesus who, we are told, walked on water. I meant to imply that 'this love' was not promising any Christian saving of the soul. (On the other hand, I say it does walk through walls, which may be the sort of magic you have in mind.)
DeleteLove the contrast between the beginning and the end. Makes me think of how worlds, people, loves... can be so different from one another. Some cruel and selfish. Others unseen, but so very nourishing.
ReplyDeleteNourishing the giver as well!
Delete"This love sees with the heart"
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely soft way to look at love. Beautiful poem, Rosemary.
As you'll see from the notes, not my original thought, but one I'm happy to embrace.
Delete