The house looks strange since the power went out,
as though the living left some time ago.
By candlelight I walk a shadowed route
through rooms I loved but now I do not know.
Sparrows huddle in trees outside the door.
I'd let them in but it's no warmer here.
Inside, a grayness settles to the core
and frost is taking all that I hold dear.
The fire has burned to embers; the light dies.
Love ends too, sometimes without a reason.
There can be no gray colder than your eyes
looking past me to some summer season.
Ice takes the naked bough to which I cling.
The storm front drives south: there will be no spring.

NCW. this is a very sad, pensive tale. The way you have woven the story of love and "home" together is exquisite. This is undoubtedly the best poem I've read here in some time. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Les

NCW,

I like the somber mood of the poem and the imagery. This is a very good piece of work.

jhs

Really a wonderful sonnet! The shifts from iambic are really quite inspired. I kept stumbling on the last line, though. So many different words seem to want to be stressed. I finally settled on,

The STORM FRONT drives SOUTH : there will BE no SPRING.

NCW


This is lovely, depressing, good work.

Thank you.

Jack

I heartily agree with all. Liked it alot.
Paz y amor
~Echo

NCW: I tried to isolate my favorite line--but, they all are my favorite because of their blend of imagery and dual meaning.......very well done. Ell



Post Edited (10-12-03 11:04)

Ell

NCW:

...there will be no spring...

A sad, but brilliant ending to this beautiful, somber sonnet.

joet

Very bleak. You have to read it again and again. It nearly led me to tears. Fantatic.

An excellent blend and choice of words. I loved it! Great stuff, would love to see some more.

Liam

Thank you all for the readings and the many kind comments!

Hugh, I'm not sure I would try putting so many 'booms' anywhere but in a last line, at least in a sonnet, and may well have overdone it here. Thanks for the read.

Let me also cast my vote for this piece. Truly powerful.

Sparrows huddle in trees outside the door.
I'd let them in but it's no warmer here.

Lovely! Definitely tough to select a 'favorite' line, but I love the imagery in these.

pam

I read this a while ago, but haven't had the time lately to comment on much. This is a lovely sonnet, full of sadness for the end of a relationship.
'There can be no gray colder than your eyes' sends a chill through me.
JP

Illudiumphosdex and Pam--thank you for the comments and the read!

JP--I always appreciate your comments. Thanks. Sometimes when I'm feeling down, I think about the following sonnet and say to myself, 'Yeah, well, onceuponatime I used the word 'wildebeest' in a sonnet,' which for some strange reason always brings a smile to my face.

LIONS

Hidden in tall grass still touched by sun,
almost dusk, the wild golden pride will feast
with snarling pleasure sharpened by the run
on the hot carcass of a wildebeest.
The lissome, tawny bodies ebb and flow
around the scavenged trophy, a bloody fee
will pay the lean hyenas, while a crow
clings to the branch of an acacia tree,
waiting for the furred ones to gorge and sleep.
The same full moon that rises over that veldt
will shine for us, my love, and then we'll keep
promises, dark and warm enough to melt
the ice of sorrow, snow of discontent.
The wind is singing: I smell the lions' scent.

This was a fine piece, ncw, one of your best after Night Shifts and my all time favorite Emissary....

EMISSARY


Sisters,
I was raised on ranches,
in logging camps,
among men
who fell in love
with me in droves.


Sisters, know this:
I did good for you
and me.
Your lovers and husbands
who loved me first
as an icon,
as Woman,
love you better
because I cradled
them gently
in the Wise-Woman hands
we share.
Serious as a priestess,
I heard the truth behind
the shy words
of strong, inarticulate men,
and honored it for you.


And sometimes, Sisters,
because I am
a woman too,
I allowed
that quick glimpse
of a crescent of thigh
by the river.

And a nice wildebeest poem at that!

pam

Bump, just in case anyone here may have missed it.


Les

Yo les, thanks for the bump.

NCW, I'm not able to visit this forum as much as I would like. However, when I can it is pleasant (and often rare) to find such a good poem waiting. I give you my regards.

I.T.

Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum

Thanks, Les. You really should have bumped your own most awesome sonnet. I've read it numerous times, and have concluded that I should steal it.

Ink Ghost--thank you for your most generous comments. I truly appreciate them.

ncw

Sometimes I think it is the test of a good poem, if test we need, that no one aspect stands above the excellence of all the parts gathered together in their excellence, as is here the case in your poem. I think they call that the "organic" theory of poetry.

Peter

The fire has burned to embers; the light dies.
Love ends too, sometimes without a reason.
There can be no gray colder than your eyes
looking past me to some summer season.

I love the transition from nature to human nature, except in the former it comes natural, while the latter is seen as an act of decetion. A thouhgt I find find worth pondering on as to why? and whether it can be comprehended with understanding or not? Beautiful poem in all its aspects!The title is so masterful as well. thanks for the read!!

Wow!!
I missed this one when it was new. 'Twas a sad miss.
Wonderful work.

Terry

Peter--thank you for the comments. I like the idea of an 'organic' piece of work.

K.Q.--many thanks for your thoughtful read and comments. Glad you enjoyed it!

Terry--thank you. I don't think Alice would like this one as much as she liked the dog haiku.

This is beautiful! I am glad it got bumped!

Amazing, Country Woman. Completely captivating to me how it's so somber, like J.H. Summers had said, but still full of so much energy. A really great poem.


-RaLie

** You set me free! To live my life You became my reason to survive the great divide You set me Free! **

Thank you for the bump, Les. I wouldn't have had the pleasure of reading this poem otherwise. It is beautiful and beautifully done. Impressive.

A bump for our friends up north.


Les

Thanks for the new bump, Les. I missed these the first time round, and on the first bump. Three fine poems from NCW. A Joy to read.

Ian

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2006 06:59AM by IanB.

I do miss NCW around here. Thanks for the bump, Les.

JoeT

Good bump!

It's nice to read her stuff, even if it is on a bump.

Thanks Les.

bump for those who may have have forgotten


Les

How could anyone who has read the work of northcountrywoman 'forget'?

Each time I re-read her work, I am humbled, and wonder why I never learned to write poetry. Thanks for bringing some of her back, Les.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2013 05:52PM by petersz.