Where Are the Friends?
MTB: Ubi Sunt and that Where, Oh Where?
And our MTB prompt today is simply to use this Ubi Sunt motif in your poetry as such:
title your poem with the question – where are the/they…
use the questioning within your poem, even with repetition
title your poem with the question – where are the/they…
use the questioning within your poem, even with repetition
DO NOT ANSWER it though – the questioning is rhetorical
employ concepts of mortality, the transience of life, a sense of nostalgia
ubi sunt is a term meaning "where are they??" taken from the Latin phrase "ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt," or "where are those who were before us?"
Where are the friends
who promised forever?
Who vowed a cradle to grave?
Where are the sisters
who pricked their thumbs?
Who undying kinship gave?
Have they forgotten
those carefree days?
Broken our childhood pact?
Have they forgotten
we were as one?
Ignoring our solemn act?
Where are the friends
we used to know?
Those
we held so dear?
Where are the ones
on whose sides we stood?
When did they disappear?
©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
#dverse #ubisunt
Lovely and poignant Lisa, the hurt and longing is subtle
ReplyDeleteOh my, Lisa ~ your poignant questions brought tears to my eyes ~ and I wonder as well. Far too many of mine have passed away. Thanks for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeletethe couplet formation to your poem perfectly underscores the ties, the bonds the poet is lamenting here
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking poem.
ReplyDeleteThe even more sad part is that it is so hard to find new friends when you get older.
ReplyDeleteNicely written and laid out. 👏
ReplyDeleteI cannot, like Edith Piaf, declare that I regret nothing and the thing I most regret are connections to friends that I failed to keep hold of and eventually lost touch...
ReplyDeleteIt really embodies the fragility of bonds and the transience of time. Hands down
ReplyDelete