I Left A Ribbon On The Stone

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icebox
Member Elite

since 2003-05-03

Posts 4383
in the shadows

0 posted 2004-08-20 11:23 AM

Hey there Joe,
remember
when I found you?
You'd been gone for thirty years,
and your family wouldn't talk to me,
I guess all their tears had dried up
and blown away.
Funny how the mind works,
in my own you hadn't changed
since the day we flipped a coin
to see which way each would turn
while covering the other.

I never like having friends,
to me it is a danger
that raises fears I can't control;
they roll on through me,
thunder
without the thrill of lightning.

Probably you never knew
I had looked so long for you,
not even sure why I did,
it was just something I had to do
like waking up against my will
in the white room years ago;
I had asked about you then,
but you had already gone
and my own circumstances meant
I was moving on to other jobs
as soon as I could get myself together,
negotiate a contract or two
and stand up long enough to leave.

Remember when
we'd come back
from some god awful place,
some place where we'd once again
had to face the darkness
that creeps into the soul?
We'd start drinking beer,
and getting high
to set the good times on a roll,
and often end up laughing
at ourselves
for being oh so very bad
that we never got to die;
just a little comic relief
I guess
for living like it was a game
with the fears of being right
and maybe dying all the same.
Back then we had yet to learn,
worse was being wrong
and coming out alive.

©2004 by icebox

Cpat Hair

Member Patricius

since 2001-06-05

Posts 11793

1 posted 2004-08-20 11:25 AM

always the underlying.. with the words painting enough.. just enough..

and we'll never know...

always enjoy reading you sir.. even if I don't always say so..

Susan Caldwell
Member Rara Avis

since 2002-12-27

Posts 8348
Florida

2 posted 2004-08-20 11:36 AM

You write it so well that it leaves me scared that I will get it and know too much...

"cast me gently into the morning, for the night has been unkind"
~Sarah McLachlan~

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

3 posted 2004-08-20 12:09 PM

"thunder
without the thrill of lightning"
that line alone, grabs the reader by the mind and heart
feeling that ribboned moment

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

4 posted 2004-08-20 12:12 PM

"I never like having friends,
to me it is a danger
that raises fears I can't control;
they roll on through me,
thunder
without the thrill of lightning."

Boy can I identify with those lines, and Joe never really became my friend, but I sure found others to fill the void that is for sure. I think I enjoyed this as one of the best of yours actually, but then when it hits that nerve you usually do.

iliana
Member Patricius

since 2003-12-05

Posts 13434
USA

5 posted 2004-08-20 01:17 PM

For now, all I can say, is this left me with no words. Perhaps, I'll be back with a comment later.....jo

Pilgrimage
Member Elite

since 2001-12-04

Posts 3945
Texas, USA

6 posted 2004-08-20 01:26 PM

Beautifully done. The fear of closeness, but it creeps up anyway, doesn't it? You can't quit being human just because you'd be safer that way. Excellent.

passing shadows
Member Empyrean

since 1999-08-26

Posts 45577
displaced

7 posted 2004-08-20 01:28 PM

I haven't been able to stand up long enough yet

oh, that ending...damn

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

8 posted 2004-08-20 01:36 PM

icebox

"I never like having friends,
to me it is a danger
that raises fears I can't control;"

To have a friend, means the possibility of losing a friend...perhaps if you lose enough, the pain of mourning is so big that death seems preferable. You express some powerful feelings in this, my friend.

PS The title alone caught me with the emotive power of the poem.

iliana
Member Patricius

since 2003-12-05

Posts 13434
USA

9 posted 2004-08-20 01:41 PM

Sooner than I thought...because of the haunt. This is such a timely and profound piece. And, I think, your aim is still pretty steady, for this has hit the heart. ....jo

1slick_lady
Member Ascendant

since 2000-12-22

Posts 6088
standing on a shadow's lace

10 posted 2004-08-20 07:07 PM

"I never like having friends,
to me it is a danger
that raises fears I can't control;
they roll on through me,
thunder
without the thrill of lightning."

and i have too many fears already

nakdthoughts
Member Laureate

since 2000-10-29

Posts 19200
Between the Lines

11 posted 2004-08-20 10:34 PM

I am probably reading it wrong...but since my husband is a VietNam vet...and I have heard his stories and more lately than all the years before...that is what it reminds me of...

M

wandering glider
Senior Member

since 2001-04-04

Posts 501
aloft

12 posted 2004-08-20 11:02 PM

Well, it does appear that death will come easier the later it gets, though the thrill be gone.

-glider-

Ratleader

Member Rara Avis

since 2003-01-23

Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass

13 posted 2004-08-21 10:11 AM

So much loss, so little time...I understand this only too well.

I hope you are able to make a peace.

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

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

14 posted 2004-08-21 10:51 AM

The title alone
is as poetic as is
the poem itself.

Bless you.

littlewing
Member Rara Avis

since 2003-03-02

Posts 9655
New York

15 posted 2004-08-21 04:15 PM

I have missed your wisdom icey . . .

I never like having friends,
to me it is a danger
that raises fears I can't control;

Marge Tindal

Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-06

Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores

16 posted 2004-08-21 04:34 PM

IceBox~
You leave us ribboned words of not forgotten gold~
The ponder alone is enough~

'they roll on through me,
thunder
without the thrill of lightning'

I have heard that thunder and longed to see the lightning~

Of all you share ... each diary page is a keeper~
*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram <))><

Email [email protected]

Gentle Spirit
Member Patricius

since 2000-10-09

Posts 13989

17 posted 2004-08-24 08:59 AM

wow, incredible write, filled with the wisdom you so often share with us.
Wonderful write....

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

18 posted 2004-08-25 08:53 PM

I had to come back
for another read.
The imagery behind this...
the MEANING behind it all...
hasn't left me.

GG
Member Elite

since 2002-12-03

Posts 3532
Lost in thought

19 posted 2004-08-25 09:29 PM

I'm glad I didn't miss this one...
Wish I could find the words to reply to it.
But I'm glad I didn't miss it
...

Always, Alyssa

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Joyce kilmer

Kaoru

Member Elite

since 2003-06-07

Posts 3892
where the wild flowers grow

20 posted 2004-08-26 12:41 PM

I always wondered why when I saw your name on the screen, I would click on it without thinking.

Now I remember the reason.

msflame
Member

since 2002-05-21

Posts 188

21 posted 2004-08-26 09:15 AM

The title demanded a read. Glad I did.

Seymour Tabin
Member Empyrean

since 1999-07-07

Posts 31720
Tamarac Fla

22 posted 2004-08-26 09:22 AM

icebox
I know the feeling and remembering hurts.
Well done my friend.

vandana

Member Patricius

since 1999-10-22

Posts 10463
USA

23 posted 2004-08-27 09:03 PM

enjoyed

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