Poppies

Cherry

By jennifer

Tue, 09 Jul 2024
  • 331 reads
8 comments
 
Poppies
Jennifer Pickup 09.07.2024
Amongst the summer crops they each raise a head –
Reminding me it’s time to visit the dead,
The poppies are blooming, there’s more by the hedge,
And I keep my promise, for I made a pledge.
I watched you that day as you marched off to war,
I watched you walk away as you did once before,
I promised to love you ‘til death did us part,
But though I have lost you, you’re still in my heart.
I wrap myself tight in my long solitude,
And I pray first to God, and then to Saint Jude,
That one day I will again walk by your side,
Right here in the churchyard where you now abide.
Inside my heart I made a long-cherished space,
Where I lie on the grass and stare at your face,
With you lying beside me, young and unfazed.
While the poppies bloom and all time is erased.
The years are so empty, the decades are long,
I sing from the hymn sheet that bears your best song,
I turn off the clock, I make my world stand still,
For where there’s a way, there is always a will.
Memories and photographs are not enough,
I crave a moment in the arms of my love,
The poppies are red, and they colour my grief,
I beg for that feeling of sweetest relief…
Just a second to stare deep into your eyes,
For you know that a love like ours never dies,
Let me steal you from him for an hour or four,
I know he’ll refuse me; I’ll keep seeking more.
The poppies are blooming on Midsummer’s Eve,
The heavens are glowing just like a reprieve,
Won’t you pull back the veil, and please let me see?
Oh Lord, won’t you let him return here to me?
Certificate PG
Poem
Storm on the Horizon (2023-2024)
Spiritual
Romance
Love

Comments

Submitted by jennifer on

Photo Credit: Claudine Lazar

Thank you to Claudine for her beautiful photo and for letting me use it to illustrate this poem.

J x

 

Submitted by jennifer on

...that I drafted when I was losing my Dad. I wrote so many, jotting them down on my phone over those weeks. I am finally able to finish them. 

They're not all about him, though a lot of them are about loss of one kind or another.

J x

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I'm glad you're able to work on these poems now Jennifer - this is a wonderful expression of loss. There's nothing more beautiful than a field of wild poppies is there? So fragile and perfect

 

Submitted by jennifer on

Thank you. I think writing always helps, doesn't it? Although it's more an urge, rather than a choice!

Poppies, growing wild, are my second favourite flowers - the first being bindweeds, or 'hedge lilies' as I've always called them! Both delicate and fragile, and so very beautiful!

J x

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Very beautiful, Jennifer. I think the experience of one loss often triggers thoughts and feelings about other losses, our own or other people's. Like insert, I am glad you're working on these pieces. Thanks for posting.

Submitted by jennifer on

Thank you. I think loss is such a universal thing, but sadly the older we get, the more we lose.

Treasure those you have while you still have them.

J x

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Beuatiful, reminds of "She ties yellow ribbon in the merry month of May .. .." and "Lili Marlene". This is inspired, is it true? The age old story.

All the best .. .. Tom

 

Submitted by jennifer on

It's a combination of various truths and also imagination. My Great Grandad's brother was fatally wounded in Ypres and brought back home to die, and was buried here. He was only 21. My ex was in the forces and had been blown up on a tour and nearly invalided out (before I met him) and I waved him off a few times on tours, not knowing what might happen, but the mind does run worst case scenarios... 

Thank you, it does have a song-like quality, doesn't it? If only I could sing...

J x