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Open Poetry #16
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RSWells
Member Elite
since 2001-06-17
Posts 2533


0 posted 2001-10-26 10:31 PM



In my past's a dark chill winter
forest's sounds muffled by snow,
there alone I'd often enter
my path lit by soft moonglow.

Shadowed trees surrounded naked
they'd not tricks hid in their sleeves,
November winds briskly rake'd
the adornment of their leaves.

Reptiles, insects, mammals sleeping
birds long since had wing'd south,
frigid breezes, snowdrifts heaping,
moustache icicled o'er mouth.

Timeless solitude then cloaked me
in this place I knew not fear,
unthreatened and unyoked, free
but for snowshoes, winter gear.

Most the great northland so slumbered
would that those days had not ceased,
life when basic, unencumbered's
when true joy was most increased.

My paternal roots I'd planted
seamless seasons sunbelt clay,
now not needed, disenchanted
my night clouds their newborn day.

T'ward less traveled fork not chosen
circumstances, none to blame,
solitude I seek and frozen
more's the peace at hearth'nd flame.

From the light tracks of the lynx
or the plowed trough of the moose,
to man's beaten path methinks
I'll Frost's other road turn loose.

"Happy people have no history" - French Proverb

© Copyright 2001 Richard S. Wells jr. - All Rights Reserved
Tracey
Member Elite
since 2001-08-29
Posts 2808
where insanity meets breeding
1 posted 2001-10-26 10:48 PM


Well, ya got the whole forest out here!! Beautifully written, sounds like some great memories here

If she who dies with the most toys wins, then can I have some toy boys please?

Startime
Member Ascendant
since 2000-10-03
Posts 5918
Canada
2 posted 2001-10-26 11:43 PM


You know, I have a problem when it comes to reading poetry..I read it with my emotions and sometimes I do not respond the way it was meant to be but I have to respond the way it felt to me. With that in mind I will tell you what this poem felt like. I remember well the feelings of magic and hope I get when I walk within forest or on mountain trails. How anything is possible and believable. When returning to the city and the realities of the lessons I have learned in life I sometimes wrap myself in a cold cloak made up of the past realities and lock myself in what I think of as the truth. Innocent dreaming put aside for the intelligent understanding of the mind. I do not know if this makes sense to you but that is the way this poem made me feel. *giggling* I would much rather spin my poems of dreams and fantasy to keep me away from the cold realities this world would have me accept. BRAVO!!!Another poem that can make me see within.  

Love I leave with you whether it is in your life now or yet the essense of your dreams.

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
3 posted 2001-10-27 12:42 PM


I think I like this best of all the poems I've read of yours. It really reaches deep down inside my heart and psyche. It often seems the path least travelled is the only path left to take. I believe Robert Frost would have loved to read this poem.
Thank you for sharing this piece of fine art, which I will save in my favorites file.

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

4 posted 2001-10-27 12:46 PM


Ya got me with the title! and hey...nice pic, if ya don't mind me saying so...and oh, ahem, yes, the poetry....

I enjoyed very much, the slow descriptive details (and the metaphors were not unnoticed either) I enjoyed this much R.S.

Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
5 posted 2001-10-27 01:31 AM


Richard--You disect the forest of your past with a knife that brings it to life.
Mysteria
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Member Laureate
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
6 posted 2001-10-27 10:21 AM


I love it when you rhyme Richard, and this was an exceptional poem, I saved this one.  Martie is right, when you write about past memories, you actually take the reader back there with you, and we experience it.  Great writing.

~*~  Carpe' Diem  ~*~

Seymour Tabin
Member Empyrean
since 1999-07-07
Posts 31720
Tamarac Fla
7 posted 2001-10-27 10:31 AM


RSWells,
More then half a life ago I spent three years in Alaska. And you brought it back with words. A wonderful write, enjoyed

catalinamoon
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-06-03
Posts 9543
The Shores of Alone
8 posted 2001-10-27 09:13 PM


I like this a lot, introspective and haunting.
Sandra

Irish Rose
Member Patricius
since 2000-04-06
Posts 10263

9 posted 2001-10-28 09:59 AM


This has a Robert Frost quality to it....very impressive!

Kathleen
nickname "Kay"

"Others can stop you temporarily, but only you can do it permanently."

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