Cathedrals

Cherry

By onemorething

Mon, 12 Aug 2019
  • 1357 reads
6 comments
 

An ivory facade of cliff fluoresces

to alabaster as light sweeps its aspect,

rises as if it was a cathedral, erodes

exposed under evermore incursions

of time and weather; bruised even by each eruption

of spray that rushes to reach it - seeks to meet it

despite daily retreat, now walked by congregation

of two; with careful words, with words of care.

But quiet mines the years,

shipworm turns rock to sand, 

moments that teetered on escarpments, quarried,

have loosened stones, 

have chipped at your immovable gods,

leave a pebble in my shoe,

and my one dimensional view of you

now wriggles in the silence.

It brims with the unspoken, pours to meniscus 

and uncontainable so flows so spills

into hidden pools below 

of all we have not said.

 

 

Image from pixabay

Certificate U
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I like this portrayal of a scenic walk, and the great cathedrals of cliffs, and how the waves bruise with each eruption. All you have not said flowing and spilling into hidden pools below...I suppose better left unsaid.

Hope my understanding of your poem is right.

Beautifully wild and personal.

Thank you for sharing.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Your understanding is right. I drove by cliffs, these actually, Seven Sisters, when away at the weekend and saw them glowing in the sunlight, reminded me of Romanesque Cathedrals which I am very keen on the architecture of. And I couldn’t help introducing a worm into this poem either. Worms and light...it must mean something to me at the moment! And unsaid things, yes, better left...probably! Thanks for reading and leaving such a lovely comment. And thank you for the cherries to whoever left them. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"quiet mines the years" I thought at first this was about a cliff but now think it is a relationship? Makes me think of two people in armchairs on opposite sides of a room, not speaking, one looking at the profile of the other in the light, and they are so far apart, the silence between them uncrossable

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, it is about a relationship. I wonder sometimes if I overcomplicate my metaphors too much and then  make my meaning hard work! I will have a think about this because already there are cliffs as cathedrals and then the stone / quarrying / mining aspect which is possibly a little confusing. I like the idea of an uncrossable silence! Thanks for reading and your poetic comment - I always enjoy reading your thoughts. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

NO! If you think of your poem like a lump of rock - I can pick it up and see some quartz sparkling but someone else picks it up from a slightly different angle  and sees some copper veins, and another person maybe sees a face in the bumps and cracks. It has the same weight whoever finds it, it's the same stone but what a special stone to engage so many interests in so many ways? I used to worry about this - but after reading what much better writers than I am on the site say about it, and also how my understandingof lots of things has changed over the years, if I write something and someone gets anything at all from it I'm glad :0) Don't change your writing unless it comes from inside you! It is brilliant how it is

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh yes, I take your point about that, just conscious not to not get too carried away. But yes, I agree and your lump of rock analogy is a lovely way of putting it. :)