The Sunday Whirl presents twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.
This weeks words are:
breath, cruel, escape, river, away, sorrow, kitchen, licked, dust, whispering, spin, gown
Alone.
“When you lie in bed and cry, the tears tickle your ears”
– Margaret Kennedy.
The mind is not cruel
But it is not kind either.
It has no agenda.
It’s a landmine, waiting.
Everything is a trigger.
◊
Dutch irises bloom,
They were planted for her,
Her beloved white dogwood,
Unfolds its kissing flowers.
The wedding gown.
Nothing too fancy.
Laura Ashley, off the rack.
Kept safe. Packed away.
But now, what do I do with it?
In the kitchen,
Favourite soup bowls,
Blue, with a handle.
We used them every day.
I still do.
A bra…
(You have a pair of pants
Why not a pair of bras?
But I digress.) A bra
Hangs on a door handle
In her study. Still.
Memories.
Gathering dust.
◊
Everything has a connection.
Sadness, regret and sorrow.
Tears that reach your ears
Puddle there.
Salty little ponds.
I lie in bed at night,
Warm but no escape.
I her her clock chime.
My fault, I wind it.
Voices whisper and spin
Salty memories.
These warm salty tears.
Not a river, a trickle
Remember when there was
A breathing beside me—
Like so much in life,
You never know when
Something happens
For the last time.
◊
Heartrending and has made my eyes misty.
ReplyDeleteSo sad, and so beautifully expressed. Very much taking me back to my own experience, 12 years ago.
ReplyDeleteTo J Cosmo Newbery
ReplyDeleteIf I could, I’d take your pain,
Hold you close through every strain.
Cry with you, through all the storm,
Until you find a place that’s warm.
There’s no clear path, no easy guide,
To heal the hurt you hold inside.
All I ask, with all my heart -
Please, just survive!
This really beautifully illustrates how grief, like love, filters in through all the little things too. It's those small reminders of what we've lost that can be the most devastating.
ReplyDeleteYes you never know when something happens for the last time. As Rosemary says....beautifully expressed and very sad.
ReplyDeleteI have very similar feelings, so many of husband's clothes and items I am not allowed to bring to the nursing home. He suffers from dementia, and I miss him every day.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem, J.
What a tender and touching poem - it really conveys the loss so vividly and how it happens in the small things in life - Jae
ReplyDelete