On either side
We smooth the waves,
In concert,
Billowing the sails
And tacking west then east,
Bearing for the strait.
It is! It is!
There’s nothing to be had
In pointing fingers.
But I wonder if like me
You wish that you
Could cross the gulf
To reach the other side.
:)
ReplyDeleteMetaphors for marriage, beautiful and sad. She or the one is wondering; wanting. Yet there seems to be that part of her and within her marriage where she feels she cannot say it.
ReplyDeleteShe still has hope and wonders if he does too.
Very touching writing, Karen.
You know, I used to call it a wall and it would just make me so frustrated feeling I could not breech it. I love your metaphor better, because water is fluid and has so much more meaning. If two are willing, they will find each other's shores.
ReplyDeleteThere is no gulf wide enough, deep enough, nor fearsome enough that you Karen, can not stretch your foot across to get to the other side.
ReplyDeleteWith all my fibrous being I know this to be true.
You did beautiful work with that metaphor--& yes, it is a poignant poem.
ReplyDeleteyes I do most definitely! Like the idea of smoothing waves.)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images and I love the "It is! It Is!"
ReplyDeleteI love the simplicity conveying such complexity of emotion.
Hi, Dianne - Thanks, and :-) to you, too!
ReplyDeleteCalli - Exactly. Thank you for your close reading.
Cat - "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," including lovers! Thanks.
Walking Man - You are right, of course. Wise man walking!
John - Thank you.
Sarah - Me, too. :-)
Joanne - Thank you. This was easy to write and hard to post.
A lovely poem most certainly. But afraid you've also left me with now deep wonder, what is was that wasn't you that you did write before this one!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen,
ReplyDeleteDiscontentment arise when i read this poem... a feelin' of hunger and famine... famine for somethin' even words can't express... awesomely touching!!!:)
keep safe!!!:)
>Kelvin
Oh my. What a wonderful way to capture that gulf that always seems to exist in some width between people. The more we care for someone, the more power they have to hurt us.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved your writing. Thanks for deciding back when to begin sharing it with us. :)
Hi, Karen. I love it when I hop over to your site and find a new poem! It's such a good feeling. And I'm never disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThis one makes a great statement about marriage, or really, any relationship between human beings. I've felt this way with co-workers many times. Shew! But you're right. There's nothing to be had in pointing fingers. It wasn't until I tried to cross the gulf to reach the other person's side that any resolution came about.
I love the metaphor you use. I agree with Cat. Water is much better than a wall. We can either drown in it or sail to the other shore. As always, you make my day. Beautiful and very meaningful poem! Have a great weekend!
The sounds are all so beautiful. Love it. Melancholy. Heartful.
ReplyDeleteAw... I was going to shout "adorable!" at first, but there's that bittersweetness lurking under the covers. I say, make a dive for it when least expected and bridge that gulf with your self. :)
ReplyDeleteHmm. We have a bed-making coming up very soon. I shall bear this in mind, surely. Question is, will we have an un-making as well?
ReplyDeleteKat
i love how this seems to touch on both what we can control and what we can't - two people in unity and individuality. it actually brought kahlil gibran to mind - "let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you...let [love] be a moving sea between the shores of your souls." -except where he is speaking as a prophet, you are speaking as a sailor - just as beautifully.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is keep sailing till we find common ground. Land Ahoy!
ReplyDeletea very beautiful and melancholic poem.
ReplyDeleteyou know, once I wrote a (Hungarian) poem, that had a line along the meaning of 'we are sitting on two different sides of the same lake'
that was a sad writing, but here I see there some hope...
I wish there is.
bearlyaudible - Welcome! Believe me, it wasn't worth posting - sort of sickly sweet. Not me at all!
ReplyDeleteKelvin - Yes, those emotions are floating in this one. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Jason - If you read on down, joaquin has a wonderful quote from Gibran that makes the distance a little more palatible. I'm glad, too, to have found such companionship here. Thanks to you for your contests and community!
Julie - Thank you! I always look for your comments. I hadn't really thought much about the many images we could use for distance until your and Cat's comments. I like what you have to say about relationships and swimming through. It is possible.
TWM is a wise ole guy, too. What am I doing hanging around with a bunch of sages? Oh, right. They're poets!!! Love ya!
JJS - Thanks for coming by and commenting! I've spent a little time perusing your many sites, too. You're quite a writer!
joseph - Yeah, I wouldn't call it adorable. Wistful, maybe? Good advice, though. Thanks.
Kat - You're the only person to mention the bed making, which was the inspiration for the whole thing!
joaquin - I have loved Gibran since I first saw Omar Sharrif! (That's a joke, but probably true -- I was just a kid and I thought Gibran must look like Omar.) The Prophet is one fantastic work. I don't recall the verse you quote, but it is beautiful as all his wisdom is. Me? I'm just a little hillbilly gal with an idea. You? You're a very good and kind poet friend.
TFE - Righto, mate! Now, why did I just think of "Crossing the Bar"? Not a good association, that! ;-)
SzelsoFa - Thank you. We used the same imagery! How wonderful that you can speak English well enough to read and comment here and also write in your native language. I'm envious!! Wish I could read your Hungarian version.
Ah, very nice - a wistful hope billows with the sails.
ReplyDeleteHow to say it better than Joaquin has? That was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe wondering--the not knowing--seems the most painful part of all. To slice a course through the stagnant swamps of fear and distance must feel like a relief in comparison. I feel like this poem was the start of that.
I really loved this metaphor, Karen. Its strength of honesty and its vulnerability.
Karen- distant shores are like distant pastures; it is the elusive that draws us. Thing is, sometimes it really is as good as it looks and better. I'm writing this on fri night from nitro. You should have brought me coffee. ~rick
ReplyDeletenicely done...and a good read..thanks for sharing this
ReplyDeleteNah, I'm more timid than you, but I admire your spirit and your poem.
ReplyDeleteTumblewords - Thanks for reading and commenting even if I couldn't do the transliteration!
ReplyDeleteSarah - Your comment reminded me of one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant--
Success in circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm delight,
The truth's superb surprise.
As lightning to the children eased
With explanation kind,
The truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind.
Sarah, isn't that amazing?
I love this simple poem with its longing for accord while engaging in the metaphor of making the bed. Thank you to Kat for bringing up the relationship between the painting and the poem. I had wondered, and it casts all in a wonderful new light.
ReplyDeleteRick - Sometimes it's just the trying to cross the gulf that is the hard part.
ReplyDeleteWayne - Thanks for stopping by.
Dave - :-)
Chris - Thanks for your comment. I almost named the poem "Making the Bed", but I thought that was a little too obvious. Now I'm thinking maybe I should have...
Choice pairing of visual and words. Intriguing and compelling poem... wonderful work.
ReplyDeleteThe nautical metaphors are so apt in this discourse... I played with them as well in Etre... do you sail? Sheets and billowing and sails and vast empty spaces... and beds. Well done Karen.
Cagey - Thank you for the compliment. I am no sailor, although I wish I were!
ReplyDeleteCagey - I'll see if I can find Etre, although I think I may have read it already.
ReplyDeleteWonderfully written. Good play of metaphors.
ReplyDeleteIt is, Karen. I hadn't remembered that one of hers.
ReplyDeleteWe are sensitive creatures. Wanting the truth, while we preserve our own understanding.
kewl pome and i like the picture too.
ReplyDeleteShas - Welcome, and thank you.
ReplyDeleteSarah - You're too wise for such a youngun!
Ghost - Hi! I'm glad to know you're still around. Thanks.
"a little hillbilly girl with an idea" Seriously? :D :D
ReplyDeleteIt is! It is! It is the poem I so very enjoyed. This is one fun in joining the partty late.... the comments are as good a treat as the post! ;)
Ani - It's good to see you're still around! Thanks for commenting. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis poem suggested a bed to me, and not just because of the painting, a bed where distances don't exist and, yet, sometimes they are impossible to cross... I love it, Karen! And it was very interesting to read all the other comments.
ReplyDeleteYet there seems to be that part of her and within her marriage where she feels she cannot say it.
ReplyDeleteWork from home India