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Spiritual Journeys #2
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Brian James
Member
since 2005-06-26
Posts 147
Winnipeg

0 posted 2005-09-03 05:56 PM


I heard a sad song once, sung in a foreign tune,
And saw it was a weeping helium balloon
Held by a piece of string around my finger tied.
She asked me, "Does your body have a cloud inside?"

I had seen clouds before, against the sapphire sky
That naturally blend and tease the watching eye.
And though they're bright and soft when they come out to play,
They fearsome turn to send the washing rain our way.

I knew that my balloon did not have eyes or ears
So I sewed bricks together with her honey tears
I built a pyramid so that I might secure,
Secretly, snowy clouds from heaven to comfort her.

But they grew dark and grey, and sent the winds to tear
My pyramid to shreds, and cast upon the air
(As I stood by and could but wring my hands and gape)
The stones that I so carefully had given shape.

So I drilled deeper, deep into the earth, to find
A building metal of a more enduring kind.
I stretched great beams of steel, and painted them with stone
Until a structure of ten times more height had grown.

The clouds turned charcoal-grey and sent the wind and rain,
But would not cast me down, though they came back again:
I stood upon the top and reached up with my hands
To catch a cloud and bring it down with me to land.

And I was patient!  But the clouds outdid me still
Sending me heat, and winter's terrifying chill,
The stone began to crumble, and the steel to bend,
Until my tower's weight fell to its weighty end.

Nor could my body's life withstand a fall so great:
I tried to lift my hand, so that I might create
Another, winning tower, but still my body lay,
My hand heavy and lifeless, like a ball of clay.

Now she had left, and I could see her high above,
Gone, with her glowing light and the warmth of her love,
And on that piece of string to which I had been tied,
A little cloud was soaring up into the sky.

© Copyright 2005 Brian James Lee - All Rights Reserved
Marge Tindal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
1 posted 2005-09-04 11:42 AM


Brian~
A hearty WELCOME to the Spiritual Journey Forum ... this piece is magnificient ... you caught me up in the stringing of your rhyme ... lifiting me with the balloon~

I enjoyed your penning and found some lovely thoughts to greet my eyes~

WELCOME, indeed~

*Huglets*
~*Marge*~


~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram <))><

Email noles1@totcon.com

sandgrain
Member Elite
since 1999-09-21
Posts 3662
Sycamore, IL, USA
2 posted 2005-09-05 12:04 PM


Welcome, Brian.  Thank you for reading and responding to my post.

I enjoyed your piece very much and will be looking forward to more of your work.

   Rae

Joyce Johnson
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Member Rara Avis
since 2001-03-10
Posts 9912
Washington State
3 posted 2005-09-06 02:26 AM


this is a very sweet and imaginative poem.  And let me add my welcome to you.  Thank you for your kind words for my little poem.  joyce
Paul Wilson
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711
United States
4 posted 2005-09-15 03:22 PM


Brian...Really enjoyed this. I hope you share more of you poems with us...Paul

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

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