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Open Poetry #4
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Night Watch
| Open Poetry #4 |
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Night Watch |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704
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Night Watch Cool hush of these machines life-leasing liquids drip clear demeaning the red of useless life blood weak without the juice encased in plastic Your spirit concealed in dry flesh your language of love lost as you forget the day the month...my name So still Visitors no more than two you sleep by drugs and fight for flight when you awake to the prison of the bed your moan you’re trapped in and no diagnosis but a bleed in the brain I conquered my fear of lifts and tight places for you cocooned in the top floor of this house of white cloth and unfriendly medicinal names I gently tuck this sheet about your fragile thin frame you seem the child and I the mother in this space of sickness dreaming Obs read every hour Light blinking on that machine mocking the regularity of the aeroplane eyes that winged me to you with such impassive haste and now I sit here staring out over foreign hills in the city of my birth I’ve not seen for seventeen years staring out over your wheeled bed past bandages and other supplies important at the lights of streets you don’t know you’re in Where are the bandages for the soul...? I touch those lights with my eyes but my heart is stretched beyond them such loss in this nightmare fortnight I hope for a jump into a tomorrow of perpetual forget free from sorrow's hand The sign in red says safety level three That pretty blue vest with lovely long ribbons tied to the unforgiving metal of the bed resists the meek force of you and cat’s paw bandages encase your futile hands complete for if you fall or sit or rip away the plaster moulding that intruding tube irritating at your neck you could die or so the nurses say for when your eyes are dull and wide and seeing you fight the wealth of health sluicing through your skin and sometimes you say you really want to die and still I sit curled in the grave of this dead leather chair wishing you would wake and walk and sing in the rain again but there you lie a fern frond furled unable to see the sun and I am only left to pray KM 12.11.99 [This message has been edited by Severn (edited 11-14-1999).] |
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| © Copyright 1999 Kamla Mahony - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
Severn, this is one of the most heartwrenching pieces I have ever read. Two lines stuck at me like daggers: Where are the bandages for the soul...? I sit curled in the grave of this dead leather chair. This is so powerful and so painful. My heart goes out to you, truly. Michael |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Thankyou dear friend. These have truly been the two most hellish weeks I have experienced for a very long time and my only recourse is of course the one of words. |
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Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Severn .. this piece is very moving. It's all too obvious that you are living it. This line is perhaps one of the most descriptive I've ever read : 'there you lie a fern frond furled' It is with fervant prayer that I hope you find strength for your vigil. ------------------ ~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~ [email protected] |
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caroline Senior Member
since 1999-08-16
Posts 1218http://members.xoom.com/belladona123/index.htm |
Severn, of all your writings that I have read (and I love them all) this is the most eloquent, moving, soul-gripping piece of all. I am in tears. If I can help you out in anyway, you know I will. My hugs and prayers for you and your mother... ------------------ "Tread softly, for I have spread my dreams under your feet"~~William Butler Yeats |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
Severn, the enormity of your compassion is overwhelming. This is a monumental piece that I wish had never had to be written. I feel for you both and all concerned. |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
Eloquent and painful. You and your mom are in my thoughts and prayers. If you need anything, please let me know. |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Wow, this left me speachless |
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Pepper Member Elite
since 1999-08-19
Posts 3079Southern Florida |
This is so moving and exquisite in its writing Severn.My heart goes out to you. Know you and your mom are in my prayers. ------------------ A soul that writes from the heart and shares it, truly gives a gift extraordinaire! |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Guys, your loving responses have brought more tears to my eyes. I'll keep you updated. Marge - due to time and circumstance I have had to be separated from my Mother now and can only pray from a distance - but she is in good hands. Thanks. Caroline - thanks my friend, your care is heartfelt and much appreciated. Balladeer - I too wish it never had to have been written - your term of monumental has likewise overwhelmed me! Thanks. PdV - Yes, prayers are truly needed - to any God that exists! Thanks, it's so wonderful to have your friendship right now. Hoot - that's a compliment if ever I have heard one - though this was written for release and not the craft. Thanks my friend. Pepper - your sincerity is gratefully received, thanks. [This message has been edited by Severn (edited 11-14-1999).] |
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Seaangel Member
since 1999-07-27
Posts 167Auckland, New Zealand |
A moving and very evocative piece, Severn. I'm glad to hear you have the consolation of words to help you through this tough time. Best wishes. |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
This is a most powerful poem. I know it is an out-pouring from your heart for it's reality hurts me there. I wish at times like this that life didn't hurt. My thoughts are with you. |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Sea - my friend, you are one of the people who has physically been here to help me through this - so thanks for your support in person dear! Martie - thanks for your thoughts - they are needed right now! |
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DreamEvil Member Elite
since 1999-06-22
Posts 2396 |
Chilling depiction of the realities of life. I hope we all get to see this from the flipside and know what such confusion is like. Now and forever, my heart hears ~one voice~. DreamEvil© ------------------------------------------------------- "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..." Count Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade (Marquis de Sade) |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Little K....I remember reading this, but I was too overwhelmed at the time to give a worthy response....now that I know you a little better.... I send hugs....for the memories.... |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Kari...I just found this... thank you dear..thankyou so very very much... sigh... My Mum is still very unwell..she survived that one..but is always sick...that November was a terrible month..many things happened..and Pip helped me survive partly... we weren't close then...and your hugs now are just as appreciated as they would've been then love you mama K Little K |
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coyote Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077 |
Kamla, The horrid "wrenching of a soul" from earth, described with such eloquence and feeling that even gods and angels cry at the hearing. This brought back such imagery for me, the would be healer, always so helpless in the face of fate. When my father "crossed-over", we had to decide as a family, to "pull the plug" on his life support. After the roller coaster of hopes and fears from the previous week, it was still so very, very hard. When my grandmother "passed away" it seemed even worse. If ever there was a person whom I thought would have a "first class ticket" to the kingdom, it was her. A true Christian in the biblical sense, as sinless as one ever gets, who never said an unkind word in her life. Yet, why should she have suffered so, with cancer, and for so long? Even the dead or dying on the battlefield receive more mercy. I guess what I'm saying is I've been there too, in the leather chair, more times than I'd care to recall, and I want ya to know that you're not alone. Wishing you, and your Mum, the best in thought and prayer. Billy  "The rose, like the cactus flower, protects herself with thorns. We however, impale ourselves on their beauty." |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Oh Coyote...you have no idea what those words mean to me... wow - thanks for responding to this...really. That leather chair was horrible...and it isn't the first time I have sat in it, that's for sure...I'm sad and glad for your empathy at the same time... hugs  KAll obscurity starts with a danger: |
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Dark Angel Member Patricius
since 1999-08-04
Posts 10095 |
Hey K I remember reading this, why I didn't reply then I don't know, the only thing I can think of was that is was so heartwrenching that I couldnt. It still is K and so terrifically written and I know your Mum came out from that then. I can only wish your Mum the best of health and happiness and I wish that for you too hon. Many Hugs Maree |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Thank you Mmy dear...I love you soul-sis...and my Mum is in good hands - well taken care of. K |
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CocoBaci Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 3043 |
Severn, your poem touched the very core of my heart and has left me overwhelmed without words... Hugs2u *~coco~* |
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