A faded postcard, tattered and bemused
Lifted so often to half envious eye,
'wish you were here' the insincerity,
impresses on you now. No doubt
these tiniest memorials were purchased
in bulk, last minute, uncaring as ever.
Next to it the clock ticks, devouring
The silence of your last few days.
An heirloom, memorial to mortality.
The pendulums scythes the dusty vault
And tick, tick, tick, your life's numbered
To the horror of that vulgar figurine.
Another thoughtless reminder that they
Were not there to ease the solitude.
Porcelain features contorted and grimy
Stare blankly to the beyond with a smile
Mindless but treasured as only worthless,
Personal objects can be. This china face
Has always been your own, frozen
In long forgotten moments of contentment,
As fleeting and tainted as they always were
But you do not remember the bitterness now
Clinging instead to the transitory images
Of cheerful recollections in your empty home.
The chair before this gloomy mantlepiece
Is all you have, these leftovers of the past
Now all of the future. Only the last bright
Carnation gives any glimmer of light and life,
Its petals fall like sunbeams in a cemetery
And you brush them away with a melancholy sigh,
as you were brushed away in youth and have
forgotten the snubs for memories of bliss.
If you lived wallowing in doom and remembered
past hurt on top of new hurt it would damage,
it would hasten your grave and that dust,
the dust on the mantelpiece, will be your fellow
as the postcard, clock and figurine live on alone.
Author notes
I got an image of one of those old women who live alone and wondered how it must be to live like that so I tried a poem. It started as a kinda Tony Harrison stlye (or a vague attempt at one) but wasn't so successful at that because his always rhyme and have a proper verse form!!
Written May 13th, 2005
A contest entry
- Anything by guardianwithlove.
300 points, ended May 8, 2006, 33 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Loneliness by Cyclical.
1000 points, ended February 9, 70 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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this write was so well done, and those words, wow you sure have a way with them, thanks for sharing, keep up the awesome poetry, best of luck in this contest.
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lol!!If you want to do the rose thingy its : f but without the spaces, I know lots of emoticons as i will now demonstrate
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it didnt! lol! xxx
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like it...but dont get it...!
hmm, u gonna av 2 explain dis 2 me rachee im afraid! lol! however - theres one line i LOVED: Stare blankly to the beyond
love that - looooads : ) tis amaaazim! hmm, well, i will read a FEW more, but there r sooom many, i havnt read, n i cant keep up, sorry! love u loreli x x x
hmm, just tryin sumat - ignore this if it dont work!
@>- @>-;- -
i think it is good well good luck
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despite what you said in your comments..this is still a very good poem.. I like it..it doesn't always have to rhyme constantly to be good
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hardcore poem, you can feel like you're there
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This is very lovely... I could virtually see the old woman, sense her memories and feel her loneliness... I love the style you have used as well as the imagery. Very well done.
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1 - 8 of 8
3 old applause
