oil painting by: Albert Francis King 1854–1945
keeps dark at bay
pressing in
as night wind stirs
like mocking breath
of life now lost
to light-less realm
beyond the chill
encircling me
I ache
to feel
your tender touch
the warmth
but naught
my heart
cold
and empty
to remain
no emotion
save grief
apples spilled
on broken stair
where rail eluded
grasping hand
no voice came
to futile cry
those lips
will not know again
sweet fruit
nor love
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
A dark and tender and sad piece, brother; clever way of working the fruit into the mix. Love gone bad, loss that deepens before it heals up. I loved your comment at my place. Once again, we have had common experiences, thoughts, apexes, and health issues. Thank the gods the gray matter is still snapping for both of us.
God willin’ bro, we’ll keep spillin’ — verse! 😉
Oh, how sad but beautifully written,
Thank you Dale.
Agree with Dale. You were really inspired by this prompt, Rob, but, of course, this has a much different feel than the grapefruit one.
My three contributions to the prompt covered three of my more favorite poetry topics — sensual, sad, and silly… of course I also like SiFi, sweet, surreal, sarcastic, societal stupidity, and philosophical. Could noy figure out how to communicate that with an “S”.
Beautiful. This poem aptly renders justice to your site quote: … poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.
Thank you very much, I appreciate your appreciation.
Oh, this is sad. Apples have so much mythology attached to them – they are the start of sin, and motherhood, and so much more. You bring all that weight into this poem of loss and love.
Thank you Sarah. I saw a scene in a movie years ago of a lover losing their life, falling up a stairs carrying a basket of apples. I do not remember the movie, but the scene lodged in my mind. It was so sad, the apples bouncing down the steps, scattering, while the women lay in a broken heap. Hitchcock, Fellini, Kubrick one of those?
This is a mournful and tenderly composed foil to your previous poem Rob.
Sometimes I love going stark and dark Ingrid. I have found it is not always easy to bring sadness with minimal words effectively but when it happens it moves the “heart”.
You made the humble apple romantic, mysterious and tragic, Rob, with a simple spill in moonlight.
Gotta be careful on the stairs Kim.
Okay, this made me teary eyed. It reminded me of the phrase ‘don’t upset the apple cart’ it leaves bruises to the best of plans. Sigh…I think you aced the ???? sad
Thank you True…!
With all the mythology surrounding the apple, the lost fruit can mean so much… but certainly an end to anything good.
The apple was blamed for the cause of the Trojan War. Golden apple in Germanic lore, prevented aging. Native peoples of North America considered it tge Tree of Life. Biblically was considered Tree of Knowledge, and got Adam & Eve driven from Garden of Paradise. Powerful znd also dangerous fruit Bjorn.
A moving poem, Rob. I especially liked: apples spilled / on broken stair / where rail eluded / grasping hand.
Thank you Sunra.
So incredibly sad ….. beautifully composed.
Thank you Helen.