Last Letter To Lacey - pipTalk Forums

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Cpat Hair

Member Patricius

since 2001-06-05

Posts 11793

0 posted 2003-03-07 04:04 PM

Dear Lacey,

It’s funny how the road
With white lines painted guides you
From one place to next, and time gets measured
In the miles to or from the next.

Mrs. Slater passed away a year ago now,
Lacey you still live in your stone house
And I am still here, hauling a few cows,
Trading horses every now and then
But I don’t make the miles anymore.

Seems the fuel to run ran out
With Mrs. Slater’s telling me stories
About her and Walter and how they
Had settled there years ago
After she had held a gun on him
Under her jacket in a civil service wedding
In the local Justice’s living room
And had told him it was time he grew up
Quit running from himself
And if he didn’t
Well she was going to pull the trigger
And then shoot herself
But by god the road wasn’t his home.

Old woman made me think
A lot about Iambe and about You
And how maybe I was not running from either
When the white lines measured me
But from myself.

Don’t know what will happen
Anymore with me and you
I've come to realize I love you
And sometimes I think you do me
But there are still ghosts rattling
Around in both our nights
And we may never be able to fully step
Past those to be what we could.

I do know…
We all got roads and rivers in us
They run sometimes underneath
The surface and sprout out in springs
Or on bridges built high above the eroded parts of us
Letting us get from one place to another
Without having to trip over the stones we’ve uncovered.

Thank You Lacey
For showing me both.

Love,
Travis
…………………………………………………….

THE RIVER-MERCHANT'S WIFE: A LETTER
by: Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

WHILE my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever, and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-Yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden,
They hurt me.
I grow older,
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you,
As far as Cho-fu-Sa

[This message has been edited by Cpat Hair (03-07-2003 05:32 PM).]

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

1 posted 2003-03-07 04:24 PM

Well, you did it all...
you made me smile,
and grew a lump in my throat,
and brought tears
to my eyes...

yes, Sir...you did it all...

Bravo!

Enchantress
Member Empyrean

since 2001-08-14

Posts 35113
Canada eh.

2 posted 2003-03-07 04:31 PM

Thank you Ron...
For allowing us to know lambe, Lacey and You!

I think I have something in my eye.....

~Tender hugs & warm smiles~

Robert Frazier
Senior Member

since 2003-02-06

Posts 1014

3 posted 2003-03-07 04:43 PM

strong! i'm moved...but then, your writting generally has that way with me!

Rf

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean

since 2000-02-02

Posts 27738

4 posted 2003-03-07 05:55 PM

hugs and misty eyes...

Poet deVine

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-26

Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley

5 posted 2003-03-07 06:07 PM

You should find an artist to draw these people to illustrate your book about them. If anything screams out to be published, it's your work!! I love this by the way. And I think I'd like to hear more.

Cpat Hair

Member Patricius

since 2001-06-05

Posts 11793

6 posted 2003-03-07 06:13 PM

you are all too kind... but I do thank you from the bottom of (oh wait...don't have one of those..) lol
well... I thank you.. one and all for putting up with this whole long telling..

I'm going to try..and keep the muse of these quiet a while... and see if indeed I can write anything else... I remember I used to... LOL.... maybe not very well..but I did write something beside this type of piece...

stay safe all...

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

7 posted 2003-03-07 06:18 PM

I do know…
We all got roads and rivers in us
They run sometimes underneath
The surface and sprout out in springs
"Or on bridges built high above the eroded parts of us
Letting us get from one place to another
Without having to trip over the stones we’ve uncovered.

Thank You Lacey
For showing me both."

Sigh...

Thank you Ron

Janet Marie
Member Laureate

since 2000-01-22

Posts 18554

8 posted 2003-03-07 06:47 PM

And how maybe I was not running from either
When the white lines measured me
But from myself.
=============================

read between your own lines...you answered your own question...or should I say...your muse did.

regards2you
Member Elite

since 2002-10-01

Posts 3940
California

9 posted 2003-03-07 06:59 PM

I laughed and wept throughout.

Loved the part of Mrs. Slater's wedding.

Liked: ........"to be what we could"..

Roads and rivers stanza, fantastic, touching and wise and gave me more teary eyes and lump in throat....
and my nose is running, too!

I love the characters you create.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us.

Enjoyed, Hugs, Pat

..without surrender, be on good terms with all persons..
"Desiderata"

Mistletoe Angel

Member Empyrean

since 2000-12-17

Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon

10 posted 2003-03-07 10:28 PM

(big hugggssssssss) Oh Ron, this is such a sad way to end this, though it does fit so cohesively and I only hope they both find what they're looking for along the way and the ghosts can find a place of their own in these houses! (sigh) God Bless You, sweet friend, we all love you so much! You have such a beautiful heart, sweet Ron, thank you for sharing!