Slivers of reality
juxtaposed with dream
Worlds exist
yet not as they seem
Memory lost to the ages
glimpses of a shadow land
Faded pages
turned by age-withered hand
In a search for abandoned moments
everlasting minutes
Beware of Time's swift river
else you as well be swept off in it
Once there, now
gone.
What spirits once
walked these forest paths -- what paths once led others to different lives,
different stories…different endings? Whose hands once held the bark of these
trees? One touch of human skin, sloughed off into the vacuous past? Whose
breath once held itself aloft in the air, light fog of life, only to
disintegrate -- vanish -- into memory?
Once there, now
gone.
One moment: a
noblewoman on a horse travels lightly through the forest Her heart is heavy with worry of the future, plans to be made, marriage to
consider, and financial ruin in the air. She yearns for escape from this life,
from a foretold and defeated future. Her souls cries out, "Please! Stop
this! I don't want this life!" It is her last ride through the forest of
her childhood, and no one can change her fate.
Next moment: in a
different century, we find ourselves at the edge of a suburban development.
Amidst the noise of school buses and barking dogs, there is only a scrap left
of the forest; a mere copse of trees remain. Only a few witnesses remain from
the former century.
The woman is
forgotten. All her cries and hopes and fears are but fragmented wisps of the
past.
Once there, now
gone.
In response to the art inspired poem: I really enjoy the use of closed form here to talk about the nature of time, the flow of time. There is a cool, meditative thought here that the poem asks me to contemplate, and I like that. Also, cool painting!
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you added "Once there, now gone." twice into the piece, it tied to together in a really cool way.
ReplyDelete