a jewel in the forest
placed high on a mountain
at rest in a sepulchre
over the town
home for a princess
send him your dowry to
purchase your tomb
enter the west door
people who loved her
enter the west door
under the domes
enter to see matryoshka
your mother
enter to see her eternal home
brought as a child bride
niece of tsarina
fleeing the famine sunk deep
in the bones
hailed by the peasants
duchess of
nineteen years to
remember their song
enter the south door
sisters and brothers
enter the south door
under the domes
enter to see matryoshka
your sister
enter to see her eternal home
lost to her young man
grief poured in building
a gem in the forest
high hidden in hills
five fiery domes under
five southern crosses
a tomb for his young bride
his child’s only home
enter the west door
people who love her
enter the west door
under the domes
enter to see matryoshka
your mother
enter to see her eternal home
mother and infant
both shells of each other
lying in state there alit
by the flames
worshipped as royals
loved as no others
lost to their homeland
before they were gone
enter the south door
sisters and brothers
enter the south door
under the domes
enter to see matryoshka
your sister
enter to see
her eternal home
This feels so much like a song. I love the cadence of it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this, I like the play of words with Matroyoshka and the root of the word mother. Very nice. Sad story.) I feel like there is more underneath that you're saying, so I will probably have to read a few times.) Nice idea.)
ReplyDeleteHappy day lovely,
Selchie.)
This is amazing Karen. A very beutiful peice indeed. Love the two voices and the flow of it.
ReplyDeleteYou always instill the urge to gain knowledge with your work. Now I'll dig out all I can about 'matryoshka' to learn more. :-)
This is beautiful Karen, and such a sad song. And yes, you make me want to gain knowledge as Aniket says...but at the same time, your words and the story they tell is all that is needed. So heart wrenching. I love the entering of the doors...so solemn...so perfect
ReplyDeleteThank you for "holding hands" with me. Your kindness and encouragement means a great deal to me. :-)
A song, as everyone has said. It gave me goosebumbs before I even got to the death of the mother and child. Very moving.
ReplyDeleteQuite a storytelling. It makes me want to learn more. I like the repetition of the verse about the doors, for each of the directions.
ReplyDeleteThe picture is magnificent!
ReplyDeleteHauntingly beautiful - sad in it's repose. You are doing remarkable work here.
what an interesting and wonderful poem. Thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteJason - This does have that songlike rhythm...hmmm...wonder if CatVibe's busy? LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting.
Selchie - Thank you for your comment. Like the matryoshka, there are a couple of layers of this - literal and figurative - so I appreciate your picking up on that. Thanks for being a positive reading friend.
Aniket - Knowing about matryoshkas will tell you part of the story. Wikipedia has the rest - St. Elizabeth's Russian Orthodox Church in Wiesbaden. Discovered it on my vacation last year. Lovely and sad. Thanks for reading and as always for your positive comments.
Faith - I'm glad you felt the pull of this sad story. Entering the doors there is both literal and symbolic -- west doors for the commoners and south doors for royalty. Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm glad to see you here. :-)
mairi - Thank you for your comment. The church did gave me the same reaction. Such a sad, yet beautiful story.
Rachel - Thanks for your comments. It is a beautifully sad story.
K - Thank you, my dear friend. Repose is a great word for the church, mother, and child. It's a beautiful place. All I could think of when I saw it was that it was a jewel hidden away.
Annie - Welcome! I don't know how you came here, but I appreciate your reading and commenting. Thank you.
I really like the refrain to this. To tell the truth, the sound and rhythm of the piece reminds me of a lullaby in a way. Very effective.
ReplyDeleteKat
Kat - It does have that cadence, and that's doubly sad, given the subject matter. Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteKaren! Thank you. I feel truly privileged.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the good things people have said about this poem, Karen. It is beautiful. It is magnificent, like the place you describe. I love the rhythm and the details, as well as the story that goes with it. I would love to learn about this history, too.
ReplyDeleteThe stanza with these words is fantastic:
"brought as a child bride
niece of tsarina
fleeing the famine sunk deep
in the bones"
Fleeing the famine sunk deep in the bones! What an awesome line. Wonderful work:)
P.S. - Sorry I always come on here as "juliebuff." I'm not trying to be elusive. Blogspot hates me. Or maybe it's just my lack of techno ability.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for the opportunity to read your beautiful poem!
Steve - You're welcome.
ReplyDeleteJulie - I know who you are! Trying to be all buff! LOL
Seriously, though, thanks for your continued positive comments and support of my writing. This was a beautiful find that my husband had told me about -- he was stationed in the town where this is located. We went there on an anniversary vacation last year, and it was as beautiful as he had remembered.
You're a great support and friend that I've met here in blogland. It ain't North Carolina, but there are some great folks here! Thanks. ;-)
Easy to read - in the best sense - and evocative. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteI've just come from Cat's video, which I found through a message you left on K.L.G's site. Your piece was lovely. The whole project was lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mairi. When we wrote those, we had no idea what Cat would do with them, just that she'd put them all together somehow. It was interesting, I thought, how diverse the poems were. Cat is such a creative soul that she made an entirely new work of art from those. I'm glad you found her video and her site.
ReplyDelete"send him your dowry to/
ReplyDeletepurchase your tomb" is heartbreaking - and "his child's only home" - i agree that it's a hauntingly beautiful requiem - your use of the refrain is brilliant and gives me a feeling of a worksong, like one might hear it sung by an old man pulling up potatoes at the foot of the mountain. the title is perfect, too - nesting as it does.
also: (an overdue) thank you for the award - the admiration is mutual.
This is a song. And a gorgeous beautiful song, and a sad and mournful song. I love how it sings. I love the ideas you come up with, you are quite a storyteller Karen.
ReplyDeletejoaquin - I thought of you as I posted this, since you're the rhythm master. I thought you might like it. Since people started commenting on the songlike quality, I've been singing it. If I could actually do more than croak a song, I'd produce like Cat does. Since I can't, I'll silently sing my song. :-)
ReplyDeleteCat - See my note to Joaquin above. Maybe the next project should be turning our works into songs? Just kidding!!!!! ;-)
I, too, thought of a requiem for the dead, Karen. But nothing so heavy as Mozart. More bittersweet, and longing, for the youth of this bride and her child, and the country they could never fully embrace as mother or royal.
ReplyDeletemother and infant
both shells of each other
lying in state there alit
by the flames
I just loved these lines. Maybe it's corny, but I thought of Russian nesting dolls.
As always, your rhythm and visuals feel so effortless. This just poured right over me. A gorgeous tribute to an eternal home.
Sarah - Not corny, at all. The word is Russian for some form of mother, so I used that term for the nesting of the mother and child. I'm glad you picked up on that. Thank you for your comments and comparison to a bittersweet requiem.
ReplyDeleteWell done.
ReplyDeleteI have recently been listening to a lot of Russian Choral music, and this piece of yours hit both the wanderlust and the melancholic bliss buttons simultaneously.
Posted a link to some accompaniment if you are interested.
Very nice work.
dear Karen, this is not my first visit to your blog :) I found you through Aniket and Cat and have been following you for some time. I love poems, and this blog has been like a mecca for me.
ReplyDeleteI loved this very song-like poem that reads like its telling only half a secret. Magical, like all your poems that I've read…
since I am so much in awe of you, you can probably understand what an honour it was to be appreciated by you. This has really made my day :)
Karen, if you liked Rivers I Have known, please do become a follower, so that I can share with you whenever I write. It would be an awesome experience to have someone like you as a reader. Thank you.
already waiting for your next poem. Love you. And love Keeping Secrets.
Little Girl Lost :)
Cagey - What a find on your website! The picture is just gorgeous (and, coincidentally, I notice was taken during the same week we were there last spring), and the music is perfection itself. It does incite the wanderlust! I haven't been to the soviet republic -- yet -- but it's on my list. What wonderful music. It transports me.
ReplyDeleteLGL - I'm happy to see you here. I'm always surprised to find someone reading my work, as I've only been writing and posting for a short while, but I was inspired by the dedication and creativity of others here. That's my long-winded way of saying, "welcome," and I will certainly visit you at Rivers. Thanks for your very nice comments.
This is stunning work, Karen! I am in awe! It reads like a song as others have said, yet breathes like a legend or myth.
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonderful storyteller and artist!
~Calli
Thanks, Calli. What a nice thing to say! I appreciateit.
ReplyDeleteCalli - That'll teach me to preview! ;-)
ReplyDeleteKaren, this is fantastic!
ReplyDeletesend him your dowry to
purchase your tombmother and infant
both shells of each otherThese are just two of the images that deeply appeal to me in this sad, beautiful, and wonderfully melodious poem...
Vesper - Thank you my dear reading/writing friend!
ReplyDeleteYes i did the same, i too wanted to know more of the story X:-) It is such a ~gift~ you have X:-)
ReplyDeleteVicki - Thank you for such kind words and for reading here.
ReplyDelete