Bothersome Continuity | Teen Ink

Bothersome Continuity

August 11, 2011
By Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran


A child pressed the drying air
In a desperate prayer
For snow
The blind hero swung—
So wild—his axe
To paralyze the foe

Intimates send their greeting cards
But have left me quite alone
On the grass, I lie, with a wrinkled note
And the ghost of a telephone

Empty-eyed mothers said ‘pity’
‘Quite a pity’ all the actors agreed
To draw my attention away from the serf in the yard
Who hastily buries
A seed

My father told me that death is a door
To diminish the dream
And the dread
But it’s hard to believe
When I’m wrapped up in grief
And he in the sheets
Of a hospital bed

Tender fingers on my arm
Try to impress the impermanence
Of the end
But I know something passed away
When I heard my sweetheart say:
‘I love you, dear—
But only
As a friend’


The author's comments:
A little sadness and a little smile for all of you.
Life goes on, as I've been told so many times before.

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This article has 16 comments.


on Nov. 16 2013 at 8:49 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

To write like you, my dear, would be something to strive after indeed...

leafy said...
on Mar. 3 2012 at 9:29 am
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

Liz has got this right, this poem is like a somber and sorrowful smile. Bittersweet and melancholy though it may be, however, it is still a wonderful work of art (though there's not really any surprise there, is it? ;) )

I don't know why, but the third stanza, specifically "To draw my attention from/the serf in the yard/Who hastily buries/A seed," stuck out in my mind. I quite enjoyed the imagery this piece projected.

on Dec. 15 2011 at 8:11 am
RedFeather GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
12 articles 0 photos 155 comments

Favorite Quote:
Prose is like walking but poetry is like dancing.
—Paul Valery, poet (1871 - 1945)

Yes, life always goes on. As you've said before, sometimes we have to die a little to live a little. The truth is that even though we wish life was simple and we didn't have to get hurt like that, it can't be. (besides, imagine how boring that would be.) God surrounds us with and sends to us the people that we need - to help us, to hurt us, to leave us, and to love us. Every bad experience that we can pull out of and get past makes us stronger and gets us ready to meet challenges in the future. So, even if it hurts, life always goes on, and we have to go on with it.

on Aug. 16 2011 at 10:21 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

Well explained :) 

on Aug. 16 2011 at 4:00 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

I don't know that I can answer that very well, perhaps because I'm not really sure myself. All I do know is that it's (to me) the most tragic kind of love, but also the softest.

It's a sort of shapeshifting; I think you described it pretty well. Again, I am not my poems, but my poems are me. I suppose when I write poems, I'm collecting little bits of myself and putting them under a different light. But most of them still come straight from my deepest of hearts.


on Aug. 16 2011 at 10:03 am
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

There seems to be a reoccurring verse about unrequited love in many of your poems, if not all. Why is that?

I rather like the rhythm of this poem, though I'm not sure if I can explain why. 

I think you have a way of shapeshifting when you write poetry, a way of seeing through eyes that aren't necessarily your own? I probably have it all wrong, you said that your poetry is you. But maybe it can be that while almost seeming to be seen through someone else's eyes at the same time. It really sounds contradictory when you think about it, but when I look at it on a different angle, it doesn't look so oxymoronic. 


on Aug. 15 2011 at 4:46 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Just call me Liz. :)

on Aug. 15 2011 at 4:45 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Exactly, most sorrow is from disappointment, not the lack of care.

on Aug. 15 2011 at 4:06 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Hmmm. Truly I tell you that your comment made me rethink a poem more than I have ever done before. Even more than that, actually. So the sorrow is not from misfortune, but from having the wrong expectations? There's always a silver lining indeed, Bard!

on Aug. 14 2011 at 11:33 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

As for where I drew comfort, was because in each instance you didn't get what you asked for exactly, but you did get love.  Just perhaps not how you would've wished.  You have a greeting card written with care and love, but not them next to you.  You're father is dying, but he's not ending his story, just starting a new chapter.  Your sweetheart may not love you as you do, but she does indeed love you.   There's always a silver lining.

on Aug. 14 2011 at 11:30 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Liz-Bard doesn't really flow well, but how about this, since you cannot decide why don't you just call me both?  Make them interchangeable and I shall answer to both.

on Aug. 14 2011 at 7:14 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Hmmm, what do you say, savetheplanet?

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Aug. 14 2011 at 5:03 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

Why don't you just call her Liz-Bard like you just did? 

on Aug. 14 2011 at 3:17 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

You both must have eyes of crystal to be able to read the truth in between these verses; I thought I had hid it fairly well. 'A sad smile,' that's what it is indeed! To Liz/Bard, where did you draw comfort from in the poem? To Aderes, you simply must cast your vote for what we are to call savetheplanet!

on Aug. 14 2011 at 1:34 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

This poem is like a sad smile,  full of truth, sorrow, and the attempt to comfort you.  It's very touching.

Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Aug. 14 2011 at 1:03 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

How true! The trueness of his poem, each line, rings out and clear in my ears. It really touches my heart!

Bravo! Bravo! :)