“My witness is
the empty sky.” - Jack Kerouac
For this week’s theme in Poets United, we are exploring the concepts of “Martyrdom/Witness”. Forgive me if I’ve gone on a tangent, but the image of a flowerless gardenia (a martyr-witness) stuck in my mind…
My Words of Love
My words of love
Are taken by the wind;
My sighs of love
Lifted up high in the air
Unheard, unanswered, wasted
They vanish, taken by the wind.
These four walls
Only they hear me
They listen to my sighs
They share my tears
And ever silently
Are faithful witness to my hopes.
These empty pages
Echo my thoughts, my fears
My joyless days.
Pen, paper, ink know me well by now,
And words are self-propelled
While mirroring my meditations.
The virginal gardenia
On my windowsill awaits:
A martyr of lovelessness
Will only bloom
When other sighs except my own
Will it hear within these walls.
My words of love
Are taken by the wind;
My sighs of love
Lifted up high in the air
Unheard, unanswered, wasted
They vanish, taken by the wind.
For this week’s theme in Poets United, we are exploring the concepts of “Martyrdom/Witness”. Forgive me if I’ve gone on a tangent, but the image of a flowerless gardenia (a martyr-witness) stuck in my mind…
My Words of Love
My words of love
Are taken by the wind;
My sighs of love
Lifted up high in the air
Unheard, unanswered, wasted
They vanish, taken by the wind.
These four walls
Only they hear me
They listen to my sighs
They share my tears
And ever silently
Are faithful witness to my hopes.
These empty pages
Echo my thoughts, my fears
My joyless days.
Pen, paper, ink know me well by now,
And words are self-propelled
While mirroring my meditations.
The virginal gardenia
On my windowsill awaits:
A martyr of lovelessness
Will only bloom
When other sighs except my own
Will it hear within these walls.
My words of love
Are taken by the wind;
My sighs of love
Lifted up high in the air
Unheard, unanswered, wasted
They vanish, taken by the wind.
I love the Kerouac quote - and i can resonate with loud words silently spoken and heard only by walls..i suppose we all have to hope they can be said and more importantly heard out loud..the walls closing in..i wonder if the skies feel any bigger..
ReplyDeletebeautiful imagery in "The virginal gardenia / On my windowsill awaits:"...
ReplyDeleteSo well you capture how absence is also a significant image! The Gardenia as a martyr is splendid.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most beautiful thing I have ever read!!
ReplyDeleteLovely writing. I hope though words of love are taken by the wind, they are never wasted.
ReplyDeleteI love "my words of love are taken by the wind"....and that lonely gardenia on the windowsill......"a martyr of lovelessness". Loneliness well described.
ReplyDeleteNicholas,
ReplyDeleteIt was a real pleasure to find your poem this evening. I liked your thoughts about the prompt, which were very tangible with instances in human life and in deed that of nature. I shall now regard my beautiful spring flowers with a sadness, as they gradually depart, to allow the next phase of the season to take its placement.
Eileen
Your words of love! So glad for the power of internet that now they are not blown away by the wind but are shared with us in our homes across the globe. thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteHow truly touching this poem is.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the way you've employed the "sigh" throughout this poem. It works well...breathings of emotion through each portion.
ReplyDeleteSegue: each thought flows smoothly into another from verse to verse. When i read the first verse i thought SIGH
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely penned poem of love's yearning
much love...
Your passionate poem reminded that we are all witnesses and we're all wishing to be witnessed by others. Inspiring poem!
ReplyDeleteLovely lines and lovely imagery.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the wind carries an essence of the martyr never letting it settle until man figures it out.
ReplyDeleteA poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree..This Elizabethan song went through my mind as I was reading your poem.
ReplyDeleteBoth so beautiful!
Such a lovely response. The Gardenia reflects the loneliness perfectly!
ReplyDelete