Monday, March 14, 2011


Willow13



Is it necessary that we name ourselves?
And name again? Becoming kin
to star, and rainbow, and river?

Raven rises, and knows us not.
Claims us not. Laughing as
he flaps away.

We pull our dwelling close about our shoulders,
polish our window eyes to see,
and add a log, real or metaphorical, to the fire.

Child, my girl cousins named their dream steeds
Black Beauty, White Beauty. Mine? --
Paint Brush.

Did I mention I've never fit well, anywhere?
Desert, mountain, sky, rain. Always
just over the next ridge, the next valley.

Next dream.



jjl
14 March 2011

4 comments:

eagle said...

Ah, my love
I fear you err.

For you fit quite well
Within my heart, mind and soul.

Dwelling there with the freedom of song
Strumming chords that give dreams wing.

You are the key that unlocks my thoughts
And brings me comfort as none other.

white bear said...

Thank you, and thank you, and thank you. . . .

Anonymous said...

I arrived at your blog by looking on google-images for the picture of a snow angel and it was linked to one of your posts fromn 2008.

I am a psychiatrist by profession, from Romania, but I did my residency training in teh United States at the UT-Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX, after which I rreturned to Romania, and subsequently relocated recently to Norway, where i am learning a very musical language, which is Norwegian, and I also have the chance to hear from time to time how even more delightful sounds Norwegian spoken with a Swedish accent, as I hear it from one of my doctor colleagues.

I am not "flink" (in Norwegian: adroit, talented) in interpreting, understanding, or even reading very often poetry, but I liked this one, because it reminded me, in particular (I don't know about others) about the silver bell that rings when Clarence (the equivalent of the angel Gabriel) thinks of a human being who might be sad or may be experiencing distress.

I personally want to tell to you, who are in fact a total stranger from so far away, that I myself, when I was 17, was personally saved by Clarence/the angel Gabriel when I thought for a moment that I might want to commit suicide after I suffered a traumatic experience inflicted upon me by another human being who was not a nice human being at all, and I only now, more than 10 years later, am still struggling with the idea that I might be able one day to forgive him, and, if I ever do, it will be only because I want to say in a way thank you to Clarence/the angel Gabriel, who most certainly was alongside me back then, in one of the most horrible days of my life, and sent to me the perception that the night around me was so calm and balmy and forgiving, and the air smelled so nice around me, that it convinced me that it was still worth living further, and it woukld mean in fact a disrespect towards his love for me that I felt surrounded by and protected by that whole night, if I would commit suicide.

Thank you for taking the time to listening to my story, i did not mean to acuse in you any distress by reminding you or making you to think about any of your personal past losse or stressors.

I just wanted to shake your hand and say hello, anad talk to you for an instant about Clarence/the angel Gabriel.

I am allright now, pretty compoetent in my work and my personal life, despite many international dislocations and relocations (I was alway good at adapting myself to all sorts of challenges and I actually thrive a little on them).

I did, thouh feel like crying abit with emotin, as I was writing this message to you, but I think it is allright to allow yourself to cry from time to time rather than hold it all into you and risk thus further chronicization of the feeflings of mourning you might feel for all of your past losses and stressors.

Thank you again.

puddle said...

Friend, thank you. I was and am moved by your story.

Good luck and loving in your future. My grandmother left Norway as a young girl, and longed for it all the days of her life. Enjoy it on her behalf, please.