Lime Tree

Gold cherry
Poem of the week
Pick of the Month

By onemorething

Mon, 13 Jan 2020
  • 5936 reads
16 comments
 

Ideas of fate can cow you,

and once, bowed and scarred by these,

I lived in a lime tree until I knew all the shallow fissures

and ridges of its linden wood, until I knew

each leaf, heart-shaped, was faithless

in the saw-edges of its green serration.

And I have heard it said that everything happens for a reason,

that events are destined - till every decency,

every abomination is homogenised - 

this slavery of a belief 

is the condemnation of the abused.

Disempowered, I passed all verdicts 

dressed as a grey cloaked cuckoo,

all offerings brought before my tangerine eye,

though no bough could bear the weight of my consequences.

Here the small deaths of bees mid-harvest

scattered the herniated roots beneath

where even they have been misled by the bladed sweetness

of its blossom, when the sacrifices of these singing drones

wrested me from this bloom of shade.

 

Certificate U
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by drew_gummerson on

Stunning. 
Drew. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh thank you, Drew! And for the cherries. There is a Baltic goddess who turns into a cuckoo in a lime tree to make decisions. I couldn't be less goddess like personally, but still. :)

 

Submitted by drew_gummerson on

Thanks for explaining. I did wonder... 

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Just wonderful!.  This is our pick of the day - do share.

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks very, very much. And thank you for the golden cherries. That's very lovely. :)

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

stunning - what a perfect pick. Onemore, I'm so pleased you're managing to keep on writing!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you! Am glad you liked it. Six months in and I am still going, yes, still slightly worry if I don't write for a few days that I'll stop again, but not so far. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

This bit, in the middle of all the trance inducing greenery like a dagger in a soft hand:

every decency,

every abomination is homogenised - 

this slavery of a belief 

that is the condemnation of the abused.

Disempowered

And the cuckoo does change fate, I had not thought of that before, but it is frightening, sinister, to have overturned what has been planned and treasured and hide what  has been done

There is a weird feeling of being drugged or confusion, like what kills the bees. And instead of a bright sun, in this green sky the cuckoo's orange eye

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks for reading and your comment, Di. You always write very poetic ones. The cuckoo's eye as the sun!  Cuckoos do have a sinister reputation, yes. I'm quite attached to the idea too that there is no such thing as fate or destiny, I think that when people say things are meant to be they forget that this leaves people who live or have lived / experienced terrible things or in difficult circumstances feeling that somehow these things were 'destined' too and it's quite a limiting idea regardless. And yes, who knows what kills the bees? :)

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

This stunning piece is our Poem of the Week.  Congratulations! 

Submitted by onemorething on

That's amazing, thank you! A very lovely surprise. :)

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Month - Congratulations!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you very much, am very grateful indeed. x

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Fantastic! I started reading this once before and was distracted by something. I love that middle section, too. It carries so much wisdom. I've read and re-read Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and some good commentary on it. This whole "fate" thing. But your proposition here is different to that (unless I'm mistaken), like fate can take the blame that ought to be carried by free agents.

Anyway, that's just me thinking about the middle section. The first and last parts with those lovely observations on nature (cuckoo, poor bees) are wonderful to read, and lodge in the memory.

Finally, keep rolling down that hill and gathering ideas and writerly inspiration. It's a joy to read them.

Parson Thru

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you! Yes, you're right about my meaning re agency, but also that I think it is an added, usually inadvertent, pain to someone / people when something terrible has happened to them to put it down to fate. 

Am glad you liked the cuckoo and sad, expired bees. Thanks for reading it. :)

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

My pleasure.

Parson Thru