A Conversation in Verse

Hellooooo. So, for about a week or so, my friend Cori and I have been working on a conversation in poems, where she would write a poem and I would write one in reply. The result is four poems that we're both rather pleased with. Hope you enjoy them, though I daresay they'll be a little hard for others to follow ...

Cori

Poisoned hearts, rotten through

Darkness thick as beading dew

None worthwhile

None upright

Depending all on phantom might

Butchered bodies, wearing wrong

Silence sings a numbing song

Never question

Never fight

Die and languish, it is your right. 

Scraped scars, reddened raw

Weary eyes of sights they saw

No relief

No respite

The tortured soul is doomed to night.

Emily

Aye, doomed to night -- but after night comes dawn,
And though the darkness lingers on and on,

A whisper of the sunrise ripples through

The rotting world that we are bound unto.

Some will not hear; it is indeed their right

To stop their ears to truth with all their might,
To shut their eyes and turn with haste away
From any glimmer of the coming day.
And so I say, let's make it ever more
Impossible to let the lost ignore
The song we sing and shout into the night
And pray that they will come into the light.

Cori

I hoped for the morning

But false hope it was

In the night I was mourning

And thought dark was the cause

Of the shadow that choked me

Of the burden I bore

But now I can see

It is not night anymore

The dawn brought the first light

And I lifted my eyes

But the Shadow was not night

I was hoping in lies

And now I am warning

You of this strife

Shadowed the morning

The curse of this life.

Emily

Though shadowed, it is morning still

And rather than despair until

The shadow melts away, I say,

Rejoice in traces of the day.

You caution me of strife, and I

Will heed your words, and yet reply

If you'll not look at aught but strife

You'll miss the glories of this life.

Yes, all creation groans, and yet

I urge you friend, do not forget

That all creation sings as well,

Rejoicing in its tale to tell.

So lift your eyes from grief and pain

And add your voice to the refrain,

The symphony that's singing of

The splendor of our Lord above.

End. 

:) Wasn't that neat? I really like the third poem, where Cori explores and redefines the spiritual connotations of night and dawn. Ahhh, such amazing imagery. It's so fun to have a good poet for a friend. Oh, and by the way, that picture is of a dogwood tree outside Cori's window. Lucky girl.

Enjoy this lovely spring day! Adieu ...

I know at times it feels as if you walk beneath a cloud,

A constant storm of tears that always follows you around. 

And now I know you well enough to know what you would say:

"Don't come near; you'll get wet, too. So please just stay away."

I know you say these words in love, because you fear for me

And you don't want to burden me with all your misery.

But I've got an umbrella that is big enough for two,

And it will keep you dry as well, if I walk close to you. 

I love you. 

If you happen to walk through town in Cannon Beach, Oregon, you'll see a pair of trees that have always fascinated me. They are hung all over with buoys of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. I like to reflect on where these buoys have been. I wonder what storms and waters, what ships and seamen each have known. But now, their traveling days are over. They hang together in these trees, reminiscing, I fancy, on voyages past. I'm sure they're pleased to be among friends. But I wonder whether they don't yearn for the sea, to ride once more the salty waves, exposed to sea and sky, with miles of air above them and leagues of ocean below.