Take this?
Take this fear
From me this
nausea, these
icy fingertips
Take this worry
of glaciers melting
swollen belly children
staring do-nothingers
rising tides and lowered
expectations
Take this disgust
from me at lies
bold-faced, insidious
divisive, insulting
Take this insecurity
from me as offspring
grown- withdraw and
bare teeth and in
difference incomprehensible
Take this soul-chilled
storehouse of historical
horror –
bodies floating
from falling buildings
children torn in
school houses
prayful people
slaughtered shoppers,
party goers,
sleepers in their beds
drivers in their cars
walkers in the streets
toddlers drowned at
shoreline – migrants
housed in cages –
children ripped from
mothers – on and on
barbed wire and
crematorium smoke
waft from past into
pollution's noxious present
slavery, butchery, forests decimated,
a lone child’s cry growing faint under rock
on and on and on - we all know
Take the spittle of hatred, the vicious glint of eyes
the indifference of one another, the righteous
unrighteousness, the replacement of facts, with opinion
the instability, the cracks widening, the smashed sanctuaries
Take the knowing that I am more old than young
and growing older still on the known path to the unknown
working at the glorious, inglorious oxymoron of
trying to find peace of mind …
Take …..
NO.
Return each and every -
Take nothing.
Leave all mentioned
and all implied
For in the convergence
is the essence of caring
and I shall not cede
I shall not ever cede
to care
OMG, Pearl! Your poem was worth waiting for. Chilling, profound, today! My heart beat faster and faster as I read. You were really inspired. I identify with everything. The first two stanzas I thought were enough....but then you went on. And yes, the crematorium smoke -- lest we forget. We must not repeat. Thank you for this, Pearl, sincerely!
ReplyDeleteOh Mary thank you ... yes.. this was from the heart and soul and deepest apologies for the wait!
DeletePearl! I applaud you for saying everything I feel and doing it so powerfully. Take all of it - if only it could all be taken, and a better world in its place. This is a powerhouse of a poem that I hope will be widely read. As this is the end of the week I encourage you to share it on facebook for people.......I would like to do so as well. This poem deserves to be READ!
ReplyDeleteAww Sherry... at the start of what will be a fast day for me... (not that I'm observant but I always fast on Yom Kippur because I think if nothing else it is good to know a little hunger) At any rate at the beginning of this reflective period I thought I'd share my own "take this"but don't take it... perspective. Hugs and love to you and thank you so very much for the support. It means a great deal.
DeleteThis is such a powerful and stirring poem Pearl! What a shame that This world is the creation of the humans. Don't know what can change it into something sane and bearable.
ReplyDeleteImagination....perhaps...and poetry always for those who can find catharsis in expression.
DeleteThe fear, worry, disgust, insecurity, horror, hatred--are in images so visual/sensual that I shuddered! Take them away, not the emotions but the causes . . . and if you/they will not, let me shudder, let me care. This may be the best poem I read from this prompt. Pearl, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOh my Susan... I am not receiving emails when a comment comes in and so I just read yours... ! Thank you so very much... I respect and admire your work and your enthusiastic comment touched me deeply. Much gratitude.
ReplyDelete