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Open Poetry #51
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Snow (for Paul)
| Open Poetry #51 |
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Snow (for Paul) |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California 
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Snow Follow the footprints in the snow. Where they take us we do not know. Where storm winds blow with savage force. Where survival directs the course. Each print, the echo of a choice Time and tempest cannot unvoice, Of a mind set to persevere— To press on through the onslaught here. Oh, how easy might it have been To give up when squall first set in? When no one would have questioned thought Of quest foregone—of dream forgot? Or wind in face, or eyes cast low To the drifts of fresh fallen snow, As they slowly erased the track That might have granted a way back? The mind numb as the face was froze. The wetness seeping through our clothes. How long ago the chill set in, Oh, weren’t we wholly different then? How long it raged, as the winds moaned, As the skies cringed, as the earth groaned. How long it burned with cold our skin, For warmth we’d never feel again. As all we loved along the way Became the price we had to pay. With all we ever dared to dream Blown away on a voiceless scream. With every step the bitter cold The one truth left for us to hold. Till, will in question, the fall slowed, And all about began to glow. A majestic blanket of white Come of the breaking free moonlight. A slight blue tint, an untouched dream. The newfound stars of heaven gleamed. The clouds parting, the storm’s course run, With promise of a morning sun, I go to face tomorrow’s blind, But leave for you fresh tracks behind. Michael Anderson 02/05/2021 [This message has been edited by Michael (06-19-2021 11:46 AM).] |
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Gunslinger Senior Member
since 1999-10-09
Posts 901TX, USA |
That was absolutely beautiful, Michael. I know you dedicated it to Paul, but I certainly got a vicarious pleasure out of it. I guess the lines which caught my attention more than any others were: "When no one would have questioned thought Of quest foregone, or dream forgot?" |
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Paul Wilson
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711United States |
Michael...You have touched my heart with this beautiful picture you painted with your words I never expected that one line I sent you would become this beautiful poem. Thank you dear friend...Paul ~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~ |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
John, I am glad this one touched you. I know you have had you’re share of blizzard and drought both in your life. Be well, my friend. |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
Paul, this was a great challenge for me. I appreciate you letting me run with it, as well as the insight you offered with the inspiration you had for it. Send me more any time you wish. |
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Temptress
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-06-15
Posts 7136Mobile, AL |
Don't mind me. I'm just walking through sighing at your words again and lacking my own to make a proper in depth response. My brain is mush today. I do enjoy you though. "I know this love will tear me to pieces |
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augustsky Senior Member Posts 828 midwest US |
Michael, "fresh tracks" indeed.. You haven't lost your touch Poet. Lovely work.. Sky~ ~Tell me the story about how the sun |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
Been suffering brain melt quite a bit lately myself, Jenn. Wasn't aware I had the capability to inflict it upon others. if only I could do it willfully, now wouldn't that be fun? |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
Thank you for you kind words, ~Sky. |
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Temptress
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-06-15
Posts 7136Mobile, AL |
Read it again. The scene is breathtaking, but I see a physical scene and the scene of a relationship in this. Also, brain melt as a weapon? I thought alcohol did that.  "I know this love will tear me to pieces |
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Paul Wilson
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711United States |
Lady T This is a challenge phrase I gave Michael awhile back. It's about a mother snow leopard with babies and their struggle to survive...Paul ~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~ |
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Temptress
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-06-15
Posts 7136Mobile, AL |
Paul, I've been told that I overthink things. It seems like my response was one of those occasions. Thank you. "I know this love will tear me to pieces |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
"Hey Paul, hey Temptress, I am so sorry it’s taken me this long to come back and address you two. Been in a very tender spot in my life and a little too overwhelmed to spend much time online. I feel very close to both of you and so will open up on what I saw in my head when Paul gave me his phrase. The phrase was “Follow the footprints in the snow, Where they take us we do not know.” I was so taken back by the power of those words I did something I never have done with any challenge phrase before, I asked Paul what prompted the words, so I may do proper justice to them. When he told me of the mother leading her young through the snow, it was more than following in line with what was moving in my mind already. My mother had cancer for the past 2+ years, and was very close to leaving us. When Paul mentioned the babies being led, I saw my siblings and I following my mother through a very troubling storm. To be fair, I should mention cancer was not the whole of the storm...maybe life itself was. It involved physical and verbal abuse as children, and never really relented as adults. It involves deep etched behavioral patterns we've all struggled with as a result of such. With a little foreshadowing, I saw some of us becoming very lost with her passing, and a growth process that would have to take place within each one of us before moving one was available. Dependencies shaken. So yes, this a poem inspired by a loving mother leopard and her wholly devoted to her young, in the best way she knew how to be, but it is very much about human relationships too, and the separation, growth and changes traumatic events can inflict upon us that leave us forever altered (Oh weren’t we wholly different then?). It’s about healing processes and how sometimes you have to be scared to death to realize the blessings you have right in front of your face that you take for granted every day, before you even want to heal. Ultimately, the story is saying one of the siblings would have to rise up and lead the family. Although I had my sister, now the matriarch of the Anderson family, in mind when I wrote it... I do hope I made it clear enough that only God’s light would be leading us out of the storm… My sister is already a stout believer and leaving tracks for us to follow. By tracks, I mean a manner of lifestyle worth following, loving our brothers & sisters as we love ourselves. And by brothers and sisters, I mean every human on the face of the earth, as well as our siblings." Ok…I’ll suddap now. Love you both |
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2islander2 Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825by the sea |
absolutely beautiful, with a such possible metaphor, thanks a lot yann |
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