Wistful

Comments: 31

elizabeth evans May 6, 2012, 7:50pm UTC

Sensitive response of a poet to the inevitable.....aging, regretful longing tinged with loneliness. Perfect title.

JOHN BECK May 6, 2012, 11:09pm UTC

I totally agree.

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:33am UTC

Thanks, All. I appreciate all your comments.

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Chris Brockman May 6, 2012, 7:59pm UTC

I should think it gets increasingly hard to balance enjoying visiting one's past and making the most of one's present, of losing oneself in the past and eschewing it for fear of this. One more thing about growing old that's challenging.

Marianne K. May 6, 2012, 8:12pm UTC

Hi Chris, what we see and feel can be worlds apart. The past is never past, but living in the moment
is priceless and ageless. I am more aware, more alert and younger in heart as the hours tick by. 'Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!'

Chris Brockman May 6, 2012, 9:01pm UTC

That's a great attitude, Marianne. The past is part of us and always with us. It helps to make today what it is in many ways. We can celebrate it as part of our living history as we enjoy today and what we are, and always look forward to tomorrow.

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:40am UTC

We do look back and rue the zestful physicality with which we embrace life, at least I do. We interact when we're older in a deeper, more serene, way...less on the surface, wiser in our hold on love and life. I miss the idealism with which youth tends to embrace everything they do. But, life is a process to be enjoyed all along the way. If we were young always, we would miss all the subtleties that are the sweetest. Youth blows by the scenery hell-bent on getting to where they're going. Like flying down the freeway...a lot of great opportunities whizzing by...

Marianne K. May 8, 2012, 7:53pm UTC

Thank you, Chris. Yes, I look forward to many more enjoyable experiences.
But today is all I've got, and so I try to fill my life with 'developing habits of happiness'.

A quote by Arch Hart, which I'm practising every day now: "The best protection against Depression is to develop habits of happiness."
And it works!!

Marianne K. May 8, 2012, 8:01pm UTC

I agree, Stephen. Yet I live more dangerously now than in my youth, where I spent time coping with family problems, instead of looking for the next thrill to experience life...I was also very idealistic, keeping me on the straight and narrow! But it's never too late to open up to love and life :)

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:28pm UTC

you are right again...NEVER too late...

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Marianne K. May 6, 2012, 8:11pm UTC

What we see and feel can be worlds apart. The past is never past, but living in the moment
is priceless and ageless. I am more aware, more alert and younger in heart as the hours tick by. Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:40am UTC

You. of course, are right.

Marianne K. May 8, 2012, 7:48pm UTC

:))))))))))

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Len Maxwell May 6, 2012, 8:51pm UTC

Very nice. I'm getting toward that age when I should be sitting in the park feeding the pigeons, but I'll hold off for a few years. I'd rather be here reading work such as this.

Thank you for sharing with Gather’s Luminous Writers & Artists where it's now featured.

Richard Lynn Livesay May 6, 2012, 10:41pm UTC

I've reached the age of duck feeding and Gather reading

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:41am UTC

I'm at the nexus of youth and wisdom. I still get up and go, but I don't feel like it, and hurt like hell when I stop. :)

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Doug Westberg May 6, 2012, 9:22pm UTC

Lovely piece! Thanks for sharing with Gather Writing Essential!

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:42am UTC

Thank you, Doug.

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Richard Lynn Livesay May 6, 2012, 10:45pm UTC

and yet love is all around...nice portraits you've painted with words, Stephen

old age , like life is a blessing and a curse depending on perspective

thanks for sharing with Surreal Circus

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:42am UTC

I think life is that way, from beginning to end.

Richard Lynn Livesay May 8, 2012, 9:38am UTC

'' " I've always liked the well worn phrase,"if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade"

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 10:11am UTC

Very apropos...

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Priya P. May 6, 2012, 11:38pm UTC

SO sad, I can feel her heart crying, longing for her lifetime lover. Great poem stephen.

Featured in Surreal Circus

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:43am UTC

Thank you Prita...

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Irina Dimitric May 7, 2012, 3:29am UTC

Beautiful imagery...old age brings along the longing for the past from time to time, but it also provides peace, away from the turmoil of strong passion.

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:43am UTC

I think older age brings passions of its own.

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Ann Marcaida May 7, 2012, 11:00am UTC

Good descriptions of something I think about a lot. I'm wondering if you might want to use longer lines in the first stanza (maybe even stream-of-consciousness) to highlight the connectedness of the couple and contrast it with the aloneness of the widow?

Ann Marcaida May 7, 2012, 12:08pm UTC

Excellent edit!

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:44am UTC

Thank you, Ann, for pushing me.

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Bernard C. May 7, 2012, 11:58am UTC

Wistful indeed - those photo's used are in evidence - parks are good meeting places :-)))

Thanks for sharing and submitting to
The Surreal Circus.

stephen berwaldt May 8, 2012, 8:44am UTC

They are, indeed. Thank you, Bernard.

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Wistful

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Comments: 31

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