An old proverb says,
"The archer hits his target
By both pulling and letting go."
The seasons always return to themselves.
Human life is a journey
From childhood to childhood.
The elements of wind and water
Are strongest
When they form a circle.
In the Fall,
The trees allow their green leaves
To change and fall away,
Leaving them naked and barren,
Secure in the knowledge
That Spring will come again.
All life on earth surrenders to the Fall.
All life trusts the Spring.
For every beginning, there is an ending.
For every ending, there is a beginning.
It stands to reason then that love,
Being a natural occurrence,
Should be subject to the same law.
It comes and goes, rises and falls,
Returns to itself like the seasons,
In a constant state of renewal
Disguised as change.
Love is always available to us
Unless we become lost in grieving
And futile remembrance.
But the heart can only carry pain for so long
Because that's not what it was designed to do.
It was designed to love
So it takes monstrous effort
To deny the heart's desire.
Unless the pain is so strong
And our foresight is so weak
That we wish death upon ourselves,
The heart will seek communion again
With another lonely soul
Despite our pain,
Despite our rage and cynicism,
And love will bloom again.
We will survive the losses of Fall
and the dead stillness of Winter
To find another joyous Spring
And another passionate Summer
As love returns,
As surely as the seasons,
And the memory of the betrayals
And all the nights of anguish
Is washed away by its power.
When two souls meet
Who have searched for each other
Knowing they were out there,
Somewhere,
But not knowing where to look;
When two souls meet
Who know that loneliness was never more lonely
Than when they were in a crowd of strangers;
When two souls meet
Who have experienced
Too much loss for one lifetime
And can't bear the thought of any more,
Ah . . . then "that" love happens,
The one everybody dreams of,
And it is the stuff of storybooks -
Roses on the pillow,
Dancing on the balcony,
Poetry by candlelight,
Making love by the fire,
All of it, forever.
There is a constant hunger for each other
And there are no more partings,
All because they were wise enough
And brave enough
To trust in the Spring
Even in the dead of winter.
Author notes
Written June 24th, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- on letting go by rebeka.
300 points, ended June 28, 2006, 12 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 14 of 14
-
So very well and perfectly stated Mark.
Such poems remind me as to how remiss I am with following up with writers such as yourself on here. In the middle of the summer comes this proverb from you and a great symbolic piece to tutor us as to what's important.
Great poetry indeed. - Kimberly -
very good
Interesting write ...
Be Well
Jackie -
Perfection
Gulp!
First off, congrats on the Silver!
I knew I'd be bookmarking this as soon as I read the opening proverb. Wow. Incredible food for thought.
There is such wisdom in this piece, and a hope that is unlike any other inspirational poem I've ever read.
Some of my most favorite parts:
"But the heart can only carry pain for so long
Because that's not what it was designed to do.
It was designed to love"
"As love returns,
As surely as the seasons,
And the memory of the betrayals
And all the nights of anguish
Is washed away by its power"
"When two souls meet
Who have experienced
Too much loss for one lifetime
And can't bear the thought of any more,
Ah . . . then "that" love happens,
The one everybody dreams of,
And it is the stuff of storybooks -
Roses on the pillow,
Dancing on the balcony,
Poetry by candlelight,
Making love by the fire,
All of it, forever.
There is a constant hunger for each other
And there are no more partings,
All because they were wise enough
And brave enough
To trust in the Spring
Even in the dead of winter."
Ok, practically every line in the entire poem is my favorite. LOL! It's just lovely, Mark! Thank you for sharing this treasure with us.
Cris
-
mucho bueno !!
Beautiful dude... Just amazingly powerful!! This has a flow every but as smooth as Frost. I've come to similar conclusions about lifes journey...
You balance the universe of loves embrace and acceptance SMMMMMOOOOOOTH...
Take a look and delete the message if you like afterwards..
allpoetry.com/poem/929297
(Not trying to TAG this beautiful write with one of my own)
Write ON bro WRITE ON..
-
I stumbled upon your poem threw someones poem on the the question how long should a poem be? anyhow... I feel as if I struck GOLD. wonderful poetry.......
-
Oh Mark, this is a lovely poem,I liked the way you used the change of seasons and the way you described at the end how two lonely souls can find love and trust again..An outstanding entry for the contest ..Very very passionate..Thank you Mark for giving me the chance to read this wonderful piece..best of luck
AJ -
KL,
Thanks for that beautiful response. Love the "heather and compass" metaphor, of course.
Mark
-
Thanks, Rebeka. Glad you liked this, and glad you've found a love that fits the description.
Mark -
Dear Mark,this is outstanding.Well written,good use of metaphor but not so cloaked one has to analyse.The references to the changing of seasons is pertinent to me,we do indeed have to change with them,there is an old Native American Indian saying along the lines of not knowing someone til you have summered and wintered them,of course it also refers to not knowing someone til you have experienced the highs and the lows,the warmth and the cold,and survived to grow together in spring.This actually made me cry as my ex used to call me Spring,it was the most painful relationship on every level,he said I made him feel like spring every day and left me bereft of springtime.An excellent write,I shall bookmark this,please let me know when you publish a book as I will be ordering my copy from across the pond,am always glad to read your creativity,Re Mark Able!Love and light,Yvette
-
:) Wonderful work!
I dont think I have ever seen you write on love in quite so beautiful a way Mark. It always amazes me how you take a universal metaphor and put a unique spin on it, making it characteristically yours.
The message is clear with language that speaks as you would.
"And there are no more partings," was actually the theme of my latest write in a somewhat modified style. So your poem was also very affirming to me.
Wonderful work!
Marissa. -
Fan-bloody-tastic. I could attempt critiques, but it has been long established that I'm not very good at them, and anyway the poems I really feel moved to comment on usually have loads of people saying what I want to say much more eloquently than me. So I'll just say that this is great, and go and have a cup of coffee.
-
Yes, to all things, there is a season... and this speaks from Soul to Life. Love, not only the bloom, but the seed and the root of being. Cycles, circles, the Alpha and Omega that knows its own... even in stillness or storm, it holds the "heather and the compass" for the harvest. Mark, this is just the loveliest poem! Bookmarked! ~ Klassy
-
it's a beautiful poem Mark, and that is an understatement...
the use of the seasons here is lovely, you know..i like to write about winter and use it as metaphor, how you have done this is perfect use of winter...i love the imagery, the balcony dances, the candlelight...the letting go and the ability to renew...it really is a cycle of events..and your use of the archer to start this off is powerful. i look forward to reading this again, i am about to fall asleep at the moment but wanted to share my first impression with you..i think i will still like this when i wake up, smiles mark...and thanks for gifting this contest with your talent. zzzz
Adding your comment:
1 - 14 of 14
14 old applause
