Springtime is showing two faces this April:
birds building nests, blooms popping the surface
of warming earth, as, at the same time,
people gone too soon are being
tenderly placed in the ground
of a world gone still and quiet.
We are all waiting for this to pass.
Wild Woman never thought
she would be living through
such a schizophrenic time:
nature's beauty is as golden as it ever was,
at the same time as people are
fighting an invisible monster
that lurks on every surface and strikes
randomly, at will.
Heroes and madmen walk the earth,
their speech as adverse as their characters.
A girl sings a song, sweetly
hoping for better days,
and brings Wild Woman to tears.
for the open link at earthweal.com
I love this poem! The two faces are so clear--the sweetness and the scourge. And then, of course, tears. it's almost too much to try and reconcile.
ReplyDeletethe mad, walk and talk, yes, while nature takes its pause ~
ReplyDeletethe heroes, the common people, the disease and then the parts that are just falling apart - well said, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteThis spring is schizophrenic, Sherry. I’m enjoying the peace and quiet, loving the heightened sounds of nature, but craving human sounds. Come back, man on the noisy ride-on mower who cuts his grass early in the morning! Where are you, men with saws and hammers, children and barking dogs? Yes, even the dogs don’t bark as much. The lines that touched my heart are:
ReplyDelete‘people gone too soon are being
tenderly placed in the ground
of a world gone still and quiet’.
If only they could bloom again.
Such a tender spring song -- bittersweet reality is always tendered so, in the heart. Maybe it's all still too big in the human experience to have the shape of a name but it quacks like grief to me. And grief is terrible, and terribly beautiful ... Well done.
ReplyDeleteI do love this poem. Forgive my ignorance, but who is Wild Woman?
ReplyDeleteWild Woman is a persona of mine......she appears from time to time and dictates a poem in her voice.....she first did this during April of 2011, and has popped up again for this April. Smiles. The poems written as Wild Woman have a different voice than my usual poems, and seem to come through more easily - but only when she feels like it. LOL.
DeleteThat's fascinating!
Deleteschizophrenic...describes it perfectly, Spring is carrying on as usual!
ReplyDeleteJIM
Yes, the world seems crazy or the gods must be crazy or we're all crazy. I too am brought to tears often as I observe and live on this earth. I am glad the girl can sing.
ReplyDelete