Wednesday 13 July 2016

POETS UNITED - ABSENCE

“Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.” - William Cowper

After a leave of absence, I am returning this week to Poets United, where the topic of the week is quite aptly, “Absence”. Here is my contribution:

Absence

The bed has turned to stone tonight,
Its granite sheets as cold as death;
The walls constrict each passing hour
And the room diminishes in size,
Crushing me in its fierce grip.

My empty hand searches in vain
For a familiar touch;
But emptiness crawls slowly on my skin
Eating away my flesh
Like acid corroding all it contacts.

My eyes extinguished,
Stare at the blackness;
But the abyss hides no secret light,
And night elongates
Eating away the days and all my hopes.

My silent lips dare not part,
For none will hear what they may whisper;
Your absence dulls all my senses,
Stops my heart and steals my soul
Leaving me empty, like a useless husk.

Rain falls outside, relentlessly
And inside my tears trickle down;
Your absence is a subtle poison
That robs my body of its will to live –
The only antidote, your swift return…

13 comments:

  1. Yikes! This is strong stuff!
    "emptiness crawls slowly on my skin
    Eating away my flesh"
    . . . and the whole idea of space growing smaller without the loved one totally resonates.

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  2. As I read and linked the quote to the poem I imagined a body on a coroners slab..cold..empty..alone.. We can only hope for the swift return - either warming ourselves again or one we love returning.. A powerful poem

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  3. Absence can feel this powerful for sure. Nice to see you, Nicholas!

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  4. This is such a painful absence....so cold and empty without those we love.

    Donna@LivingFromHappiness

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  5. So very true - that absence from loved ones can be a fate worse than / as bad as death. Especially I think for those who have had a long-time love & whose entire life revolved around the other. The way you wrote this poem expresses the pain of missing so very well. So glad to see you back at Midweek Motif, Nick.

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  6. This is heartbreaking, Nicholas... There is so much pain and longing expressed in this poem, it is hard to read and not be moved by it. The last line provides a faint glimmer of hope...

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  7. My silent lips dare not part,
    For none will hear what they may whisper;
    Your absence dulls all my senses,
    Stops my heart and steals my soul
    Leaving me empty, like a useless husk.

    Such passion and intensity in these lines, Nicholas.
    Beautifully written.

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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  8. Excellent poem of the impact of grieving for loved one. Beautifully written Nicholas.

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  9. You have been missed Nicholas. Passionate powerful written with a tsunami of feeling.

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  10. wow...you've really made one feel the void...so overpowering..every word spilling that power...
    so nice to see you back here Nick :)

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  11. I liked all the lines especially 'And night elongates
    Eating away the days and all my hopes' Good imagery.

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  12. The imagery in this is so raw and vividly powerful!

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