For What it's Worth...

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Fri, 07 Aug 2015
  • 1842 reads
8 comments
 
How could I possibly have known
when I woke that December morning, 
the last of the month,  it was to be
the day we two would make
that final ascent?
 
Your hand was like ice – I tried, so hard
to warm it with mine; you wanted to give up
you told me, but there was no turning back;
we’d gone too far for that...
 
Those moments still fresh in my mind,
when the wind almost blew us over...
when the track ahead grew narrower
till there was room only for one.
 
Letting go your hand was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done, and yet you went
for miles doubting my love.
 
Mad at me, somehow, because I couldn’t 
kiss away your pain like I used to –
couldn’t just slap on ointment, and a plaster...
make everything better, and you had no idea
how guilty that made me feel.
 
If you’d had children of your own
you would have known – love’s worth
is not measured in the warmth of its keeping
but in the bleakness of its letting go.
Certificate PG
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Spiritual
Love

Comments

Submitted by Bee on

Heartbreaking last line in an honest hearted poem, Tina. Some feelings never leave, and guilt has a nasty habit of clinging on the longest, whether right, or wrong.

Bee

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

'Some feelings never leave...' how right you are, Bee.  And cling, they do.  Thank you for your wisdom.

Tina

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I think that last line will also resonate with many mothers of children with various disabilities, when the child, and sometimes the onlookers will misjudge the mother pulling back from pushing forward with help, letting the child try, stumblingly to cope, even going through falling over in the learning process. But the child does appreciate 'deep down' when there is love that is real not just performing to the onlookers.

Your metaphor is very telling, and helping towards that path where there is room only for one, is a massive demand.
Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Rhiannon, as ever, you get right to the heart of the matter, and your summing up, in the last paragraph, is spot on. 

Tina 

 

Submitted by VeraClark on

It's worth is immeasurable. Both the poem and the release. This is exceptionally gutting - hope you dont mind me saying that - there is a privacy between mother and child that the reader is infringing on and it gives the poem more than its beauty, it gives it emotional welly.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you, Vera.  You are, uncannily, perceptive.  

'Emotional welly'...deserves a cherry in its own right, i.m.o.smiley

 

Submitted by Pat G on

the bleakness of its letting go - You've got it there. It's never the warmth. This is really memorable.

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you, so very much, Pat.

Tina