by JustMe ~I'm happy to be~
Member since:
August 16, 2008

~Washed Away~

July 27, 2012 09:06 PM UTC (Updated: July 27, 2012 09:13 PM UTC)
views: 0 | 17 people recommend this | comments: 45

 

She presses each petal

gently into the tissue paper

the scent of magnolia

and tears intermingle

a delicate imbalance

of love and loss

Traces of what was

in danger of being

lost in this moment of

bittersweet turned to brine

Each gentle petal

so alive in color

so soft in touch

clinging to life

at threshold of death


She knows later

the petals will

crush, dry with age

but for now they

are alive in

a salty scented bath

so precaution must

be given to keep

equilibrium infused

into the process


But the memories

associated with each petal

tip the balance

words passing silently

on her lips

images, like snapshots

of their fingers intertwined

must ultimately be laid down

forgotten

as soon as she

closes the book

allows time to compress

the petals, the memories,

the words, the images


Days turn into months

months into more months

finally she can bear

to let it all go

She follows the path

to the stream with

moss covered rocks

mist rising in the air

tosses each piece until

all is washed away


 

Comments: 45

Connie C. Jul 27, 2012, 9:46pm UTC
Wow! I think this is one of those poems that will have various meanings depending on who reads it and what they are going through in their life at the time. You are amazing!
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:30am UTC
Thanks, Connie. So glad you enjoyed it.
René Allen Jul 28, 2012, 10:50am UTC
This is beautifully done JustMe, and also FEATURED in . . .

Artistic Therapy!

Connie is so right about what she shared on this poetic piece. And YOU are AMAZING lady!
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 1:02pm UTC
Rene,

Thank you for your very kind words. And thank you for the features
René Allen Aug 15, 2012, 3:54pm UTC
You are welcome Just Me. This was well done, as usual. You are very "gifted" in the area of poetics Sister!

Blessings to you, and I hope to be seeing a lot more of your writings & poetics.

Blessings,

Rene
Kevin E. Jul 27, 2012, 10:31pm UTC
Connie wrote my thoughts about your poem better than I could. Your poem is alive with human emotion.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:31am UTC
Kevin, believe it or not, all began with a song and hearing the word "Press". :)
Kathryn Flynn Jul 27, 2012, 11:44pm UTC
Truly, you are metapmorphosing.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:31am UTC
I can feel it, Kathryn and my poetry has taken a new turn down an old path.
Marianne K. Jul 29, 2012, 1:31am UTC
Absolutely!!
Marianne K. Jul 29, 2012, 1:31am UTC
Absolutely!
Len Maxwell Jul 28, 2012, 12:03am UTC
I echo Connie's comment in that this is amazing.

Thanks for posting to the Crushed Leaves Wall on The Triple Name Club where it's now featured.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:31am UTC
Thank you so much, Len, and thank you for the feature.
Diane Huizenga Jul 28, 2012, 12:08am UTC
beautiful
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:32am UTC
I would love to know why you feel that way, Diane. I'm always looking for how my friends here "feel" from the poem.
Diane Huizenga Jul 29, 2012, 8:49am UTC
The pain of my parents passing washes away a bit more each year, I am holding on to the good memories, not the bad, so they are washed away. The bad memories of their deaths, my parents were wonderful.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 29, 2012, 9:38am UTC
Ah, Diane, I am so, so sorry. I know I am fortunate that my parents are still alive.

I do understand your love for them.

xx
Karen E. Jul 28, 2012, 12:18am UTC
All will wash away. Gentle and soothing and a gift this evening.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:33am UTC
Karen -- so good to "see" you! I'm glad you enjoyed my poem, my friend.
Bernard C. Jul 28, 2012, 3:34am UTC
This sounds very much akindled to the parfume makers and of natural essence creation - very nicely done - is a bit like after-shave, it washes off LOL :-)) Nice write


Thanks for sharing and submitting to
The Surreal Circus.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:33am UTC
Parfume makers - hmmm- now you've got my mind thinking of a new poem already. :)
ʚϊɞ Carol ʚϊɞ Jul 28, 2012, 2:37pm UTC
Featured.
Bernard C. Jul 29, 2012, 3:41am UTC
I believe the term is or called oncologists though best to look it up :-))
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 29, 2012, 11:58am UTC
Thanks, Bernard. Your comment, along with Stephen's inspired my newest poem.

Carol - thank you for the feature!
JOHN BECK Jul 28, 2012, 7:31am UTC
Powerful symbolism, written with the delicacy of one who feels deeply and has a gift for artistic expression.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:33am UTC
Thanks, dear friend.
stephen berwaldt Jul 28, 2012, 9:08am UTC
It must be an incredible experience to be loved by you. Your words belie a loving, sensate heart, much like my own, I think, but no matter how life treads us down, gives us cause to bemoan the injustice, we cannot help but thrive, because we strive to love, no matter where we are. Yes, love does hurt...yes, our hearts will break, but if we find it only once in this life...just once...we have lived incredibly, what those that haven't can't possibly imagine.
Your words pour out like tea scented with jasmine and sweetened with honey.

Thank you submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists. Now Featured.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 9:11am UTC
Yes, to all that you said.

Thank you so much for your touching comment and for the feature, Stephen.
A. F. Stewart Jul 28, 2012, 9:42am UTC
Hauntingly beautiful.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 1:02pm UTC
Thank you!
Chris Brockman Jul 28, 2012, 10:34am UTC
Your "flow" here is prodigious.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 1:02pm UTC
I appreciate your feedback, always, Chris.
Ann Marcaida Jul 28, 2012, 1:50pm UTC
Such beautiful and quietly deep prose. This reminds me of the time I was reading one of my grandmother's books and came upon a pressed four-leafed clover, which had probably been there for decades. I feel as if I experienced the tail end of your poem., touching a memory.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:57pm UTC
Thank you so much, Ann. I love that you feel comfortable to share a memory with "me", here......

Finding a pressed flower is like finding a note or a personal signature in a book....
ʚϊɞ Carol ʚϊɞ Jul 28, 2012, 2:38pm UTC
...clinging to life at threshold of death.

Amazing choice of words. Such power in a few words.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:58pm UTC
Thank you so much, dear Carol.
elizabeth evans Jul 28, 2012, 5:49pm UTC
I think this could well be my favorite of all your poems I have read. Each reader brings his own life experiences to the reading....remembering some memento of a loved one they have held on to....and were finally able to release it.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 8:58pm UTC
bob, such a comment from you stirs so much emotion in me. I am glad this poem resonated with you and I am grateful to have you as a friend (p.s. you truly looked beautiful in Magi's pics.....your love for him shines directly into the lens.)
Bob's radiance always shines through the photographs. As does yours, Michelle.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 9:11pm UTC
What you say about bob is absolutely true. As for me, (blushes)....I don't know.
Sadness and hope intertwined in a really lovely poem.
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 28, 2012, 9:11pm UTC
Thank you, dear friend, for your comment.
My pleasure!
Marianne K. Jul 29, 2012, 1:57am UTC
Oh my, Michelle, this is amazing poetry. I see it as a process of memories kept alive against one's will, petal by petal relived with all your senses, time helping you to relinquish the love and the loss. There is no better way than to cherish, rather than mourn, what was and might have been; it is the path to enlightenment for the future which will enable you to embrace life and love with increased inspiration, enthusiasm and hope. What is washed away makes room for new adventures, unlocking doors into new pastures, revealing more of YOU and God's plan for you :)

xoxox
JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Jul 29, 2012, 9:39am UTC
Thank you, dear friend.

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