Sense And Serendipity In The Garden Of Earthly Delight (a duet with Martie)

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icebox
Member Elite

since 2003-05-03

Posts 4383
in the shadows

0 posted 2003-09-25 08:48 PM

Fall is in the air,
really didn't get here yet
but I would bet,
if I was the betting kind,
that winds of Autumn
slipping like a careless thief
soon will blow the dust of Summer
from my mind;
I will leave behind
what were my precious dreams
of yesterday.

The wind is moving
heavily across the sea in patterns,
flowers touching,
rooted in the core of ocean floor
where tiny whirlwinds of sand lift and sink
as I raise my hand,
parallel repetitive connections
seeking in the depths of swirl
to find the center,
still the suckling breast of all,
only time and I
a breeze
left wanting place to fall.

How does a woman
surge so completely
in and out of love?
I look at the stars
and they seem so calm about it all,
about the broken hearted fall from grace
that brands the loss of love
into the soul.

The stars do not know a woman's heart,
they are cold,
though most girls have wished upon them
through the windows of their dreams
where they heard happy ever after,
then as women look at love that way
as if it could bring the desperate light,
and so they fall
close enough to touch some midnight.

Love is not fragile
it's just that we cling,
thinking that we need another to be complete
when it is within ourselves,
this goal to meet,
and love is built so often as a book
on the pages and the leaves
that to know it,
though standing in plain sight,
takes sifting kernels
from the sheaves of whim;
how we survive love never puzzles me,
long ago I realized I am
instead completely devoid of reason
when life continues in the aftermath
of love's demise.

Just as all of life
becomes grist for the mill of time,
our hopes and dreams,
the chaff that streams out
into the currents in the storms of life,
bearing lovers' stories,
so fragile
that a single thought turned on edge,
hurled into the whorl,
accelerated by the winds of our beliefs,
our make believes,
will smash or be smashed
inevitable collisions
on the paths of soaring leap.

Taking all
the fallen broken pieces
of loves gone by,
where pruning would have allowed
growth to be fair inclined,
I'll always find pride
neglect and hurtful words
once loosed
could not reseal the open vulnerable heart.
It seems
the one thing I've been searching for
is what entraps me.

Yes
a smile,
a wink,
a nod,
trace remains
of moments from my past,
and so what I thought was love
is only imagery
in fragments,
of my own shattered face,
scattered slivers reflecting
in tear stained streaks
on broken glass.

Oh sure,
it puzzles me that I survive life
at all.
Yet I watch the seasons change,
the Earth move patiently
beyond my wildest hopes for self control;
I feel small
beyond my safest understanding
of the value of my size;
I am perhaps at best a dust mote
in the eye of God.

Time makes a fool of me,
my own seasons mocking
tangled feelings,
when to move at all
I must stand still
and take the moment to me like a lover.
If I look through the eyes of time,
the tunnel is so long,
the quest so filled,
the prize so lost
that to clutch anything in passing
is better than to be without,
and so I grab a dream,
search for a connection
that will bring an end
to being all alone
within such vast unknowns,
without a thought to cost,
or of the perfect pleasure I could bring,
like a tree
torn free by giants as a gift
to life's maker of all things.

Yes,
it feels like this,
without a doubt like lace
that can be worn only once
and then it's all worn out,
stripped to skin,
bare to bone
and looking past the heat;
take off the wings' diaphanous illusion
then walk away just wearing feet.

The sea,
the wind,
the stars,
even the Moon
which at times burns completely through my soul,
never tell me
though it seems,
no,
I know,
I am sure they all know
the hidden secrets in my dreams,
the urgent need
for love's sweet anodyne;
they know without doubt
what caused me to turn left instead of right,
or spun me 'round about
or closed my eyes
when all the truth I needed was before me,
in plain sight,
what stayed my hand
when I should have reached,
or made me clutch and cling
when such was guaranteed to bring an end
to love
which only needed freedom's walk,
to breathe,
to stay alive.

Time,
and the company of stars,
race as if we didn't
hold them in complete regard,
leaving us with wishes
made like chocolate treats
melting quickly in the sun,
clinging to the rush the sweetness made
while washing off the stains
careless of neglect,
built up too hard,
still we hunger to lick with greed
the lasting aftertaste,
the lingering soul,
that will through all travails in time
return to make us whole.

All that's human in us
doubts we ever could
claim a role like this to heart,
to still the fall from that lofty place,
the edge whereon we choose to hide
to slice into the lusty pride of skin
and deepest glide,
knowing further space
is inside the truth,
is where eyes gone looking
see the holy past,
the place of lies.

And so
we're left undone,
the pace of change
outstripping any slip of soul
in searching out the simple solace
of any fool's salvation
every lesson distilled
from remnants and the chaff of life.
I have learned
love is a doorway to eternity,
the passage through it free
for any traveler who can divest all need,
but until that basic human greed is shed
the doorway swims upon the surface,
unstable,
in the fluid walls of life.

How bravely
I begin each new incarnation
flush with the belief that this time
unlike all the rest before,
I have planned a life with sense,
and sensibility,
and not on simple trust
in serendipity;
yet each time,
without fail so far,
the plan
my new life's script
is quickly shredded,
ground to dust
between the stones of love's reality,
and I am left facing empty fields
at end of game,
wondering what I will keep,
what I will forget this time,
why the ending
always feels the same.

And it is this very bravery
that breaks my heart to watch;
the surety I feel within my path
to walk right up to love
and past the looking glass to the other side
where there is no need for excuse or reason,
and I can see this replay again and again
each time I'm taken through the garden
to pick up what I left behind before;
yes,
I end up at the same door
and find out each time
that to pass through may not be a human thing,
but what we can do,
only,
when we are given wing.

©2003 by Martie and icebox

nakdthoughts
Member Laureate

since 2000-10-29

Posts 19200
Between the Lines

1 posted 2003-09-25 08:53 PM

what can one say when they are reading such deep felt honest words...

my favorite part:
Yes
a smile,
a wink,
a nod,
trace remains
of moments from my past,
and so what I thought was love
is only imagery
in fragments,
of my own shattered face,
scattered slivers reflecting
in tear stained streaks
on broken glass.
you two compliment each other well.

*s
M

[This message has been edited by nakdthoughts (09-25-2003 08:55 PM).]

Enchantress
Member Empyrean

since 2001-08-14

Posts 35113
Canada eh.

2 posted 2003-09-25 08:56 PM

Bravo!! A keeper from two of Passions finest poets!

Amazing talent....just amazing.!!

~ I love your glances meeting mine
across forever or the room ~

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

3 posted 2003-09-25 08:59 PM

Good ... gracious....

I think Ron needs to think about a book
devoted strictly! to Passionate pairings...

or duets, as otherwise known....

Library! Winter reading, and all of the other excuses we give for :keepers:...

Ratleader

Member Rara Avis

since 2003-01-23

Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass

4 posted 2003-09-25 11:09 PM

Stupendous -- a monument to romance... a sensitive and open portrait of love as it really is in the here and now.

I trust we'll see more, and soon.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

angelblueyes
Member Elite

since 2003-07-19

Posts 2148
Oklahoma

5 posted 2003-09-25 11:13 PM

This is sensationally wonderful and it touches the heart and soul to the most inner core.

Crystal

Mistletoe Angel

Member Empyrean

since 2000-12-17

Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon

6 posted 2003-09-25 11:17 PM

(big hugggsssssss) Oh Icebox and Martie, I had to read this many times to understand and interpret this as this has so much depth but this is a most wonderful duet, sweet friends, know Mother Nature has so many remedies and blessings and serendipity can always be encountered in every step out there in the open! (sigh) God Bless You Both, sweet friend, this is excellent, we all love you both so much! You have such beautiful hearts, sweet Martie and Icebox, thank you for sharing!

May love and light always shine upon you both!

Love,
Noah Eaton

I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sun set and I perceive

***Live***

James_A_Fraser
Senior Member

since 2003-09-03

Posts 972
Out Making Anticlines

7 posted 2003-09-26 12:43 PM

This is the best poem I've seen since I've been a part of PIP. Hands down, the best.

bslicker

Member Elite

since 2000-12-04

Posts 2321
state of mind

8 posted 2003-09-26 03:20 PM

this is great martie and icebox
it belongs in everyone library.
Bernie

A smile a day keeps the world in smile's.
Bernie Slicker

Earth Angel
Member Empyrean

since 2002-08-27

Posts 40215
Realms of Light

9 posted 2003-09-26 04:47 PM

Trust me, I didn't want this poem to end--and at one point I thought that I may have gotten my wish! lol Exquisite collaboration!

&

Linda

Marge Tindal

Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-06

Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores

10 posted 2003-09-26 04:53 PM

IceBox & MartieSis~
I have read this beauty four times ... I'll be back when I have the words to tell you both just how much it was savored~
*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram
[email protected]

Marge Tindal

Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-06

Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores

11 posted 2003-09-26 09:34 PM

Sheer beauty ... perfectly seamed~
A melding of poetic spirits not often seen~
I am more than impressed ... I'm mesmerized by the easy flow of thoughts ... one into another ... so gently blended~

Let's see ... this is Friday .. and by all counts on my calendar ... this is the best piece of poetry I'll read this week !!!

Applause to both of you~
*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram
[email protected]

Aenimal
Member Rara Avis

since 2002-11-18

Posts 7350
the ass-end of space

12 posted 2003-09-26 09:48 PM

Epic and yet I'm left wanting more
I hate to single any lines out because i really adored them all but these just hit home:

How does a woman
surge so completely
in and out of love?
I look at the stars
and they seem so calm about it all,
about the broken hearted fall from grace
that brands the loss of love
into the soul.

BluesSerenade
Member Patricius

since 2001-10-23

Posts 10549
By the Seaside

13 posted 2003-09-26 10:04 PM

You know what I think, and it's all so good!
You're two of my favorites, God love ya!

Tossing you both a bouquet!
This was beyond beautiful poetry!!!

Dark Angel
Member Patricius

since 1999-08-04

Posts 10095

14 posted 2003-09-26 10:40 PM

ok I've read this a few times, and both times I was left stunned...I've tried to pick my favourite part and realised it's all my favourite.

A fantabulous write both of you, you have me speechless.

Maree

fate is not just
whose cooking smells good
but which way the wind blows

(Ani DiFranco)

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

15 posted 2003-09-27 10:57 AM

Thank you all who read this...I know it's long, and in writing, it sort of took on a life of its own. And thank you, icebox, for leading me down the path of this poem. It was a growing experience, and you are an amazing man!

Ratleader

Member Rara Avis

since 2003-01-23

Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass

16 posted 2003-09-28 10:30 AM

....Just in case it wasn't clear from my earlier comment...I like this poem very much, have been back to read it a half-dozen times, length and all. It says even more to me now than it did the first time I saw it....so it gets a bump!

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

ice
Member Elite

since 2003-05-17

Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

17 posted 2003-09-28 12:06 PM

Excelent work, Martie/icebox
The title fits the poem perfectly
Most enjoyable read.......ice

passing shadows
Member Empyrean

since 1999-08-26

Posts 45577
displaced

18 posted 2003-09-28 12:29 PM

whew...I'll have to come back to this...a long write for sure...but skimming over it, I know I love it!

vlraynes
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-07-25

Posts 8229
Somewhere... out there...

19 posted 2003-09-30 09:36 PM

Well, I've been trying to find the words to
do justice to this piece...but there are none.

So...I'll just say that you two, and this duet,
are absolutely amazing. I am in awe...

Hugs to you both...
When the power of love overcomes the
love of power the world will know peace.
-Jimi Hendrix

icebox
Member Elite

since 2003-05-03

Posts 4383
in the shadows

20 posted 2003-11-03 11:43 AM

"I end up at the same door
and find out each time
that to pass through may not be a human thing,"

Martie, I just wanted to say that this still haunts me. Thank you for sharing so much of your self.

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