Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Malus Domestica



When I was a child,

I was just eyes in the dark

Scaring myself;

And I was just arms in the dark

Trying to comfort myself

When I was a child.


When I was a girl,

I thought, a girl is no thing to be,

Not here;

And so I turned to a silent woody tree--

Wearing my white blossom dress in spring

With an apple for a heart

When I was a girl.


Everyone said,

"You are not even really a girl,

Nor a wooden doll;

You are just the black in the night,

And the space between dreams,

That's all."

When I heard their words, I wept

And let my leaves fall.


When I found love,

I came back into bloom

And my white blossom dress

Was the envy of the stars, and the lovely distant Moon;

But when I leant to kiss my love,

She was gone, never to come back...

With my single apple in her apron

And the night sky laughed

When I lost love.


Now I am a woman,

And, like all women, my eyes see everything;

My arms reach

To comfort and to keep

My creatures, my garden, and me;

I still wear

My white blossom dress in spring,

And in autumn I weep--

Bring your baskets, for my branches are full with a thousand hearts, both tart and sweet...

Now I am a woman.

_______


Each stanza has one more line than the one before. Like growth rings in a tree. ;-)

21 comments:

  1. So good! This is so good it squeezes my emotions.

    Secretia

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  2. Yessss. I love this, but I stay away from your garden except to
    observe the life there, and experience the vivid color (even the black-and-whites) the heavenly scents (heaven-sent?), the overall beauty. OK?

    And I would never NEVER injure even a stem-leaf of one of your blossoms.

    PEACE!
    -One of the WEEDS across the street

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  3. "You are just the black in the night,
    And the space between dreams," --

    so beautiful and feels to me like the definition of loneliness.

    Poignant poem, Shay.

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  4. Have i told you lately that you are amazing!!!! absolutely love this!

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  5. A clever and thoughtful definition of a woman in the making, from child to adult.

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  6. OMG!

    You better submit this someplace serious!

    Really-


    Aloha, Poet-Friend!


    Comfort Spiral

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  7. "Now I am a woman" ?

    No, there is something missing there.
    "Now you are an AMAZING woman!"

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  8. I agree with Mac and the others...you are an AMAZING woman and you should publish this in A BOOK, CHICA! ¡¿QuĂ© esperas?!

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  9. this is deeeeeee-vine! and so true for many of us, how we grow, change and blossom over and over again...

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  10. Your words go straight to my heart.

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  11. Where I came from, they discouraged girls from becoming trees. How little they understood.

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  12. Shay -- As trees are one of my favorite plants, I loved that you added an extra line to each stanza, like the growth rings in a tree.

    You are such creative spirit:~)

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  13. This really hit a nerve with me in all the best ways, that nerve that makes you realize you're alive and filled with the joys and the living of the now...oh sweet Shay you are the tree that completely grows your rings ever closer to us and our hearts...
    may i offer you an apple?

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  14. man i hope you read this i see you have a lot of comments on this poem i love it. its like your all grown up but you still do the things you do when you where younger and personally i think thats great it can help you stay young are childhood will never leave are sides

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  15. This is such a haunting song... so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...

    xoxoxo

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  16. and a damned fine example of one if I do sez so meself !!!

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?