Still
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, beauty, courage, gratitude, homage, joy, love, memories, mystery, nature, photo, tragedy, wonder
•
it sits
still
atop the corner
of our garden wall
just where she left it
how many lilies
did it nourish
how many fuscia
lilac
rose
and morning glory
did it quench
it dispensed its
life giving waters
so gracefully
in her hand
such a delicate hand
gentle in its task
of planting new growth
but rugged on the weeds
that threatened her beloved garden
she was the giver of life
and the guardian
of her realm
but she could not
stop all that threatened
and I had not
her gift of life giving
and so it rests
atop the wall
no longer is it lifted
by her tender
hand of nurture
that hand now
is still
• • •
rob kistner © 2010
August 5th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Rob, This is so bitter-sweet, tender, lonely, beautiful!
It makes me sad and at the same time, the picture you paint of her makes me happy in the seeing of it. Powerful!
August 5th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
So many things we never gave a second look can bring back the memories…
August 5th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve kept a copy of this. A dear gardening friend died a couple of weeks ago, and your poem brought tears to my eyes. May I give a copy of it to her son? I know he would love it.
August 6th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Please Viv, do share it with your friend’s son — I would be truly honored… I hope it brings some warmth to his heart…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 1:17 am
Thank you Nyla, your words are most gracious — I’m pleased this piece touched you…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Thank you Nyla, your words are most gracious — I’m pleased this piece touched you…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 5:27 am
It looks like my showering can of water! I use all the time as well. Great new style, Rob!
August 6th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Really beautiful. I especially loved the first three stanzas, such great imagery and emotion in them even without the subject of death as the rest had.
August 6th, 2010 at 6:36 am
This was wrought with emotion, both happy and melancholy. A great piece.
August 6th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Thank you Dianne, for your kind words…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 7:14 am
Such a beautiful piece of writing.
‘and so it rests
atop the wall
no longer is it lifted
by her tender
hand of nurture’
Lovely lines.
August 6th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Thank you Patience, for your gracious comments! There is a Poe element to my psyche that often bleeds through into my work — I find the melancholy seductive… don’t know why… perhaps there is the familiarity of abandonment which has been a part of my life since my birth…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Thank you Paul, your kind words are appreciated…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Aoife, you are most generous, thank you — this was one of those pieces that seemed to have already been written within me. It flowed almost effortlessly upon my viewing the image of the watering can — my muse was most kind this day…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Rob, the soft sense imagery matches the tender sentiments you capture. And as someone else has already said, it is the small homely things that seem to pull the deeper emotions when it comes to sorrow and grief,
Elizabeth
August 6th, 2010 at 8:52 am
lovely sweet image of the caring hand
August 6th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Your perspective is lovely ElizaBeth, I am pleased this piece reached you…
..rob
August 6th, 2010 at 8:57 am
I’m glad you were touched Kathe…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 9:19 am
This is incredibly lovely … today would have been my mother’s 87th birthday. Your Magpie brings back so many memories ……..
August 6th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Thank you, and may your thoughts surrounding your mother be warm and comforting today Helen…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
You have said it all. There is nothing left, just a little sorrow.
Thank you.
August 6th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
You are welcome Annell, thank you for visiting…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Oh, this did make the tears fall. I miss my grandmother so. Thank you for the beautiful words.
August 6th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
You are welcome Angie…
…rob
August 6th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
beautifully written… sad tale…
August 6th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Thank you Dianne…
…rob
August 7th, 2010 at 2:29 am
I like this a lot. Nicely crafted.
August 7th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Thank you Martin…
…rob
August 7th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
A pleasure..
now it is there, now it isn’t
August 7th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Thank you Gautami…
…rob
August 8th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
A very therapeutic piece!
August 8th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
lovely write, sad that she is gone now, but the garden will always know she was there ….bkm
August 8th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
What a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing.
August 8th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
I am so pleased it touched you Chrissy — peace to you…
…rob
August 8th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Thank you BK…
…rob
August 8th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
You are welcome Sue, thank you for the kind words…
…rob
August 9th, 2010 at 9:40 am
So much a life a lover of gardens does tend! I love the play of delicate hands wrestling with dirt & weeds. So sad the can there to only collect rust now…. great Magpie, Rob.
- Dina
August 9th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I am pleased you enjoyed this piece Dina…
…rob
August 9th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Dear Rob: The nuturing aspect of the subject of the object is wonderfully humanized in “Still”. Lovingly rendered as well as fully harmonized with nature as per the seasons of life. The fact that the main person; a woman described so gently represents the motherly nuturer (Gaia?) who provides the life-giving sustenance of beauty found in the earth with her many glorious flowers surrounding us because of her. As she was alive once to nuture but now remains “Still” as in death but to me, this word “Still” has a beautiful double-entendre as is “Still” in our hearts; denoting forever a part of our heart. Yes this poem is very poignant a portrait of motherly love or the female nuturer. A lovely poem of heart-felt love for one’s mother-earth/nuturer! Tender! A most excellent and memorable poem! Wonderful cadence!
August 9th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I appreciate your kind words, and I am pleased the poem touched you.
Yes Jane, you were astute in your grasp of the dual meaning of the word still, which I used at the opening and the end of the poem. In each instance I intended “still” to be interpreted as both motionless and enduring.
…rob
August 10th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Oh, that is beautiful!
August 10th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
T, you are kind…
…rob