Just One Moment
Last month for Weekly Scribblings # 53, we were given some "Beautiful Words" as prompts. I worked with a few of them, posting one, and putting this one aside until today. The "Beautiful Word" is
Tsuki-koru – the moon freezes.
 |
| wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64404">Link</a> |
Time suspends
for just a moment,
as my heart skips a beat,
and the rivers pause mid flow.
The moon freezes,
a hoary orb against a starful sky,
and I stand stupefied.
I can sense the Earth stop spinning,
for just a moment,
as my tongue is numbed,
my spinning mind plays catch-up
with
the words I am
compelled to hear.
Just for a moment,
this single moment,
before the rivers continue their paths to the sea,
before the Earth resumes her orbit,
I am allowed to pretend I have not heard
you have died.
Let me have this moment
of bliss
before my heart shatters,
scattering frozen splinters
to pierce the melting moon.
©2021 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
A poignant poem, Lisa. I love the way time is suspended while the rest of the poem builds up to the shattered heart, and the beautiful image of the frozen moon, ‘a hoary orb against a starful sky’.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much.
DeleteAmbush! Nicely executed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I appreciate your saying so. I took a look at your Painting in Lockdown, and your paintings are amazing, and I am not just saying that! Alas, you say none are for sale.
DeletePowerful write Lisa, I especially liked the way you so beautifully brought the piece to a close with:
ReplyDelete"Let me have this moment
of bliss
before my heart shatters,
scattering frozen splinters
to pierce the melting moon."
With Best Wishes Scott
Thank you. We can only delay acceptance for so long.
DeleteDeath is quite a blow to our thoughts especially when it was not even contemplated a little earlier. Even sitting by the side of one who is dying there is still hope.
ReplyDeleteI suppose some look at it that way, there still being hope. Although when my father was dying and my mother-in-law said, "Where there's life, there's hope," I was angry. There was no hope for him, and she only pulled out a meaningless thing to say to say something. I held my mother's hand, she was welcoming death. My husband's death was one you mention as being "not... contemplated... earlier." A sudden surprise. A "wait, this isn't real" thing. Thank you for your comments.
DeleteI really like how the beautiful descriptions and imagery sort of protect the reader's heart from the final hurt. It doesn't diminish the loss, but it allows for it to be felt in near safety. Also, the poem feels so very appropriate right now--when snow covers the world outside my window.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I like how you put it, "felt in near safety." A preparation of the pain in a way. I get little snow that stays, so can still think it's pretty! I lived in a lot one winter and it stopped being pretty fairly quickly. You do find lovely images to share on Instagram though. Yes, I peek!
DeleteYou capture the moment before we wrap ourselves in grief so beautifully. Such a felt piece--
ReplyDeleteThank you so much.
DeleteBeautifully written and very moving.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteAwesome work indeed. "...pretend I have not heard..." Mind blowing poem, this one. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteBeautifully structured. One can feel the longing for that moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I think it's something we've all experienced. Or, if not, will eventually.
DeleteBeautiful poem on grief. For some too overwhelming to absorb and process.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I agree about it being overwhelming for some.
DeleteSo poignant and affecting; a moment before all shatters and grief sets in. Beautifully penned, indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. There is that brief moment before it hits us.
DeleteDeath hits like a stone on the chest... You have beautifully expressed the passage of grief.
ReplyDeleteIt really does, doesn't it? Especially the unexpected deaths. Thank you for your kind comment.
DeleteWell put. Maybe only those who've been there understand.
ReplyDelete