Monday, April 13, 2009

matryoshka

a jewel in the forest

placed high on a mountain

at rest in a sepulchre

over the town

home for a princess

russia’s daughter

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 nassau

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

34 comments:

  1. This feels so much like a song. I love the cadence of it!

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  2. Thank 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.)

    Happy day lovely,

    Selchie.)

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  3. This is amazing Karen. A very beutiful peice indeed. Love the two voices and the flow of it.

    You always instill the urge to gain knowledge with your work. Now I'll dig out all I can about 'matryoshka' to learn more. :-)

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  4. 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

    Thank you for "holding hands" with me. Your kindness and encouragement means a great deal to me. :-)

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  5. A song, as everyone has said. It gave me goosebumbs before I even got to the death of the mother and child. Very moving.

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  6. Quite a storytelling. It makes me want to learn more. I like the repetition of the verse about the doors, for each of the directions.

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  7. The picture is magnificent!

    Hauntingly beautiful - sad in it's repose. You are doing remarkable work here.

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  8. what an interesting and wonderful poem. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  9. Jason - This does have that songlike rhythm...hmmm...wonder if CatVibe's busy? LOL
    Thanks 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.

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  10. 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.

    Kat

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  11. Kat - It does have that cadence, and that's doubly sad, given the subject matter. Thanks for your comments.

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  12. Karen! Thank you. I feel truly privileged.

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  13. I 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.

    The 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:)

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  14. 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.

    Thank you again for the opportunity to read your beautiful poem!

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  15. Steve - You're welcome.

    Julie - 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. ;-)

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  16. Easy to read - in the best sense - and evocative. Well done.

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  17. Thanks, Dave. I appreciate that.

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  18. I'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.

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  19. Thanks, 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.

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  20. "send him your dowry to/
    purchase 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.

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  21. 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.

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  22. joaquin - 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. :-)

    Cat - See my note to Joaquin above. Maybe the next project should be turning our works into songs? Just kidding!!!!! ;-)

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  23. 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.

    mother 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.

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  24. 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.

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  25. Well done.

    I 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.

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  26. 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.
    I 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 :)

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  27. 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.

    LGL - 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.

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  28. 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.
    You are a wonderful storyteller and artist!


    ~Calli

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  29. Thanks, Calli. What a nice thing to say! I appreciateit.

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  30. Calli - That'll teach me to preview! ;-)

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  31. Karen, this is fantastic!

    send him your dowry to
    purchase your tomb
    mother and infant
    both shells of each other
    These are just two of the images that deeply appeal to me in this sad, beautiful, and wonderfully melodious poem...

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  32. Vesper - Thank you my dear reading/writing friend!

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  33. Yes i did the same, i too wanted to know more of the story X:-) It is such a ~gift~ you have X:-)

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  34. Vicki - Thank you for such kind words and for reading here.

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