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Monday, May 27, 2024

Bitter-Toss'd

 


She was last seen leaving the beach,
in those long-ago days -
that high-hearted girl, so appealing
with her wispy hair and bizarre costumes,
eyes dark with kohl and goofy with misplaced hope:
sweet as a rose, trembling,
on a dubious journey 
following sparks she dreamed
would turn into love,
but never did.

Where is she now, that tender-hearted girl?
Has she been cured of her longing to be seen,
to be wanted, to be loved?

Did all of that pining turn into a millstone,
hope into responsibility?
Did her fast-talking amour stay just long enough
to leave her
with a string of children
to raise alone?

The evidence is in: her eyes are bare now,
and honest. They invite no one in. 

for Shay's Word List:

https://fireblossom-wordgarden.blogspot.com/2024/05/word-garden-word-list-last-seen-leaving.html

Not sure who this woman is, but I recognize the honest eyes. Most of us older women wear them.



7 comments:

  1. Scratch a cynic, find a romantic. Her story sounds a lot like yours, Sherry. However, I can't imagine you as a cynic.

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    Replies
    1. No, am not a cynic, I'm a died in the wool romantic - just didn't know how to find it in my own life.

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  2. "her eyes are bare now, and honest. They invite no one in." - Oooh! What a solid punch to end with. Well done!

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  3. The young person in us never changes - to look through the world with eyes of wonder. - Life is there for living.

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  4. That "high-hearted girl" may be MIA but somehow lives on in these beautiful lines, hidden from eyes but not, I think, those who knew/know her.

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  5. I like the portrait you paint of her in that opening stanza. It is sad to think of the love she wanted not materializing for her. This is a moving poem, Sherry!

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