Tuesday 10 March 2015

POETRY JAM - EYES

“Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.” - Walter Scott

For this week, Poetry Jam has given a prompt relating to eyes, with the directive: “This week I would like you to write a NEW poem about eyes. A mother’s caring eyes. A father’s stern eyes. A child’s innocent eyes. A lover’s warm eyes. Eyes of God. Cold eyes. Open eyes. Closed eyes. Squinting eyes. Blind eyes. Inner Eye…”

Here is my contribution, keeping in mind that Autumn is coming to us who reside in the Southern Hemisphere:

Coming of Autumn

The rose was bled
And now it languishes,
Wilting, pallid, lifeless
Propped only by the collar of the vase.
The summer’s dead, its blue eyes
Forced shut by an autumn
Prematurely reigning –
Heat drowned by drizzle.

My eyes extinguished,
Are overcome by the opium
Of your memory;
Its presence strong, although illusory.
How can the frozen heart thaw
In autumn’s chills and icy rains?
How can even a sanguine libation
Revive the wilting rose?

No! – Coals of eyes cannot by fantasy’s
Cold fires be rekindled.
So I abandon me, in Fall’s grey skies,
A leaf unwilful, tossed by icy winds.
So I surrender me to a fading, wilting,
Premature exsanguination
And yield, succumbing me
To what fate has writ.

13 comments:

  1. at the loss of another...the eyes can lose a bit of their life...and twinkle...
    autumn is a time of passing/transition into the sleep and everything
    is brilliant one last time before dying...

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  2. First of all, ha, I am glad we are entering spring and not fall. Smiles. I like that blue eyes are forced shut by autumn..I think this can be read on a couple of different levels. And unfortunately we have no choice but to surrender to the fading and wilting that does take place...in nature each autumn and...in all of us!

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  3. Memories ~ love the opium comparison.

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  4. that surrender is a surrender f wise eyes

    have a nice Wednesday

    much love...

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  5. This is a maelstrom of emotions and colour, so well crafted and wonderful expressions.

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  6. I like the images in these stanzas. Especially like the description of autumn overtaking summer. Each stanza could be a poem on its own.

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  7. This is so melancholy and dark, yet beautiful and poignant. It captures the sense of loss, so well: Loss of a lover, loss of the summer, loss of youth too, maybe?

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  8. "The opium of your memory" is a very powerful image. It makes me want to know more and yet the mystery of it all is what makes the lines so good. I also like the way you used fall in your poem.

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  9. love the comparisons used so beautifully in the poem...

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  10. My eyes extinguished,
    Are overcome by the opium
    Of your memory;


    really nice discription here

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  11. beautiful composition, loved the comparisons and imagery in it

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  12. Melancholy and beautiful, perfect for the coming of Autumn and old age...

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