Monday 14 March 2011

A way with words

I tried to make a path from stones and pebbles,
collected from the beach and carried home.
I chose them one by one from park and garden,
brushed off the soil, then placed them in a row

I piled them up, one rock upon another,
stood back and contemplated the effect;
the look and feel, the shifting shingle grouping,
a sometimes jagged sharpness that it left.

At first I hadn’t known they’d need containing;
their shapes and textures pleasing, smooth and round,
but then I sensed them knock against each other,
collide in changing contexts, shifting ground.

I saw them, trodden down and disappearing,
sink back into the earth from which they’d come.
I’d thought them mine; the world sought to reclaim them;
chiselling new meaning from the stone.

I tried again, I laid a holding membrane,
visited new sites, collected more.
Reordered, piled, and polished from my journey,
the treasures from each trip enriched my store

Until at last I’d made myself a pathway.
The pebbles came together underfoot.
Tho’ every now and then it shifted slightly
I’d found a road through words towards a truth.


13 comments:

Rachel said...

Brilliant pacing. Very well done.

SpudChick said...

Lovely post! You are a gifted writer. :)

Scrappy Grams said...

Deep stuff, my dear! Liked especially your phrase "the world sought to reclaim them."
And I'd shout, "No, they're mine!"

Shopgirl said...

This is how it's done. You do have a way with words, be it building or playing with them.

light208 said...

A way with word in every sense. Lovely.

Nadya Avila Chant said...

Excellent. You create powerful images and your words beg to be read aloud for full effect.

J said...

Just wonderful.

Young at Heart said...

what a lovely way to start my day.....thank you!!

Anonymous said...

Great post

All the best, Aron
here's my site too

Cait O'Connor said...

A beautiful and very deep poem, it will take several reads, there is so much in it. Bravo indeed.

Pat said...

Thought provoking.

Baglady said...

So beautiful. I loved "I’d thought them mine; the world sought to reclaim them". Such an allegory for life.

Sharon Longworth said...

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on this. I always get fewer comments on a poetry post - I'm never sure if it's because people find poetry harder to say something about, if it's because they don't like poetry as much, or maybe it's just that it doesn't quite hit the spot.
Whatever it is - my thanks to those who did comment for your support and encouragement.