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Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

0 posted 2011-09-28 10:25 PM

Looking

I took a glance back into my Octobers
poems that I found that
friends like you liked,

Then found myself looking onto
cloudless sulphurs
as I drove my way back
home.

I thought,
“Why can’t I write a poem,
with meaning and hope and
prayer,” and then I saw the folded
wings, of a Cloudless Sulphur.

Folded, as if struck head on, by
vehicles such as mine, hurrying
without looking, but how does one
miss a sprite?

Can one slow down, as if to miss a
rabbit, squirrel, or muse?
But the cars behind push me into
mode of the road,
“45 – 55 - 65 -
mph if you please.”

The yellow wings flutter, some
struck
prior to my sight,
my heart is tender from the plights
of land, and lord, taxes and nature,
yet,

I bleed, with no one to heed,
for the fluttering life
of a winged creature.

© KRJ
9-28-11

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

1 posted 2011-09-28 10:33 PM

Except for the love bugs, Sunshine, I have a soft spot in my heart for all living things. Except for Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. Hope I'm not starting anything up again, but if so it will be without my participation. I just felt I had to say that.

Lovely poem..

~~ Those who are silent are the first to be shot. ~~

Krawdad
Member Elite

since 2001-01-03

Posts 2597

2 posted 2011-09-28 11:11 PM

What bothered my most about the commute I used to drive was not the thoughtless drivers, the trucks throwing rocks or even the winter weather as much as it was all the hapless critters that I got in the way of and could not avoid. And that was in the middle of intense row crop farming where there are so few critters left from what I remember as a child when the roads were slaughterhouses for frogs and snakes and all manner of life.
I suppose I should write something about that, or maybe I did and chose to forget it.
We can not survive alone, a monoculture of ourselves, and yet we press on, mostly unconcerned enough to act.
Thanks for your attention to this, K.

Amaryllis
Senior Member

since 2010-05-20

Posts 1306
Mi now

3 posted 2011-09-28 11:32 PM

Tender.. It is so hard to see a songbird hurt or killed, little metaphors that they are. Fine writing here, K!

Best,
Amaryllis

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

4 posted 2011-09-29 03:45 AM

No, one can't slow down, as it would cause much more disaster still ... but what sadness really to witness and to "participate" in the slaughtering of these beautiful winged beings.

One of the consequences of technological evolution. Thanks, dear Karilea, for this compassionate poem, that touches the heart.

M

Nicole
Senior Member

since 1999-06-23

Posts 1835
Florida

5 posted 2011-09-29 06:44 AM

Oh I have missed reading you, truly. Often times I am stuck inside my head, on my drive in... and I miss so much. (that doesn't bode well, does it? Everyone driving hwy 26 in Florida be warned. lol)

Lori Grosser Rhoden
Member Patricius

since 2009-10-10

Posts 10202
Fair to middlin' of nowhere

6 posted 2011-09-29 08:16 AM

Why am I not surprised that you captured the butterfly on paper and turned the mudane into something memorable?

Lori

ebonygirl
Member Elite

since 2011-07-14

Posts 2000
California U.S.A

7 posted 2011-09-29 10:29 AM

It breaks my heart to see the remains of these creatures on the highway. Thank you for your sensitive poem. ms. e

Michael

Moderator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-08-13

Posts 7666
California

8 posted 2011-09-29 01:15 PM

This poem is deep with imagery and meaning.

quote:
“Why can’t I write a poem,
with meaning and hope and
prayer,”

Quite possibly the most oxymoronic statement I have ever read, K... this poem being the very antithesis of what you imply.

quote:
but how does one
miss a sprite?

Many will miss them. Most of us would never be able to see one to begin with. Most of us will pass into the next realm having missed more than we would dare to imagine, though it was hovering right in front of us the entirety of our lives.

In seeing them, you are gifted… and you share your gift with us, for which I give you my utmost gratitude.

Next time I’m in my car, I will take it slow, and see...

Michael

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

9 posted 2011-09-29 02:37 PM

Sissie...your heart feels the gift of that life, in the taking.

JL
Member Ascendant

since 2004-04-01

Posts 6128
Texas, USA

10 posted 2011-09-29 08:06 PM

"The yellow wings flutter, some
struck
prior to my sight,
my heart is tender from the plights
of land, and lord, taxes and nature,
yet,

I bleed, with no one to heed,
for the fluttering life
of a winged creature."

Oh, Sunshine, you had me reading and rereading soaking it all in. Life as you and only you can envision living, and moving through it with such vigor and color.
Enjoyed to the max!

JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

luminosity
Senior Member

since 2005-11-18

Posts 813

11 posted 2011-09-30 02:22 PM

oh I really like this.....I often write in my head while driving...I could see me sitting beside you...my problem is I forget to get it on paper when I get home and it continues down the road

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

12 posted 2011-10-01 11:27 AM

I bleed, with no one to heed,
for the fluttering life
of a winged creature.

A week ago, I watched life fade from a luna moth and saw several black swallowtails who'd fallen victim to cars on a country road... then had to drive 4 hours through clouds of love bugs... an unwilling participant in hundreds of deaths.

“Why can’t I write a poem,
with meaning and hope and
prayer,”

You did... and do... and I'm grateful.

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