perfect storm
{a body in motion}
i remember the day i grew up
my hand on your shoulder and my heart
left somewhere in amongst the gravestones
we’d run through without tripping
and i realize now we made a trade
that day
you standing still
and me never stopping
chasing ghosts i’d never known
but surely
inherited
the clouds sung a choir
of revelation
just before i knelt
to pray for silence
and then i was off
like a shot or a doe or a wild-legged
mustang
wind in my hair streaming long
back behind me
your hand outstretched
but never grasping
how i’d left you alone
with your fear
.
.
.
A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 8
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.
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April 8th, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Very good write – such longing in the last lines.
April 9th, 2015 at 9:23 am
‘chasing ghosts i’d never known
but surely
inherited…’ this is just a direct hit, Kelly, and the last three lines, especially, seem a song of triumph. LOVE.
April 11th, 2015 at 10:22 am
I love the energy in these lines:
like a shot or a doe or a wild-legged
mustang
That fear can cripple or make us still, left behind by the wind ~
Good one Kelly ~
April 11th, 2015 at 10:26 am
Such separation .. the wounds left in those last three lines.. like something ripped apart, yet perhaps the only way…
April 11th, 2015 at 10:41 am
Powerfully expressed, with more than a tinge of sadness…sometimes we just don’t know the effect our leaving will have….as we move on!
April 11th, 2015 at 11:09 am
I too love the ending lines, though the process to get to that final separation from fear is quite like walking among tombstones. Each little death, gives rise to freedom. I so much enjoyed this.
April 11th, 2015 at 11:46 am
The contrasts here are startling…a strong write! My husband and I find cemeteries interesting places to explore.
April 11th, 2015 at 1:25 pm
Am really struck by these lines, there’s so much underlying meaning there:
chasing ghosts i’d never known
but surely
inherited
Intrigued, makes the poem mysterious and enchanting.
April 11th, 2015 at 2:15 pm
oh heck – that is so very emotional and left me with a lump in my throat with the last lines… it’s tough when someone needs our help and for whatever reason we cannot..
April 12th, 2015 at 3:22 am
chills, maybe it’s late, maybe it’s that I grew up near a cemetery, and have distinct memories of running through them, which you’ve conjured up ~
April 12th, 2015 at 5:14 pm
stricken with awe, at this beautiful picture you have painted. Chilling and powerful… I’ve always been scared of cemeteries so running in them was/is a NO. smiles