Sole guide and friend when I am
lost on country lanes. It’s night
and the loss is sometimes straightforward,
sometimes
the strands of complication get plaited in
colouring warmth in where none was scheduled.
I imagine torches on scenes of small disasters.
Someone we love is always the shape of the missing
the gap unfilled
a careful step on the cracks in the pavement –
it never hurt anyone
to be doubly sure but
who’s to say superstition hasn’t cursed the world?
There can’t be one heart for hatred
and one for love. We only have one…
and it stains easily.
Great imagery and nuance. The second stanza is perfection.
Oh thank you! That means a lot, coming from you! Feeling very proud now.
You’ve put in so much feeling and meaning here, Marina Sofia! And those really are effective images. Powerfully done!
Oh I love the final stanza so much.
This is beautiful. Intense and poignant. It demands to be savoured slowly. Several times.
Thank you, Sandra. That’s how I read most poetry! Although there are some which only appeal at first sight, so I know what you mean.
Seconding Elle here – that last stanza is brill!
Not original, I am afraid. The first part of it – there can’t be one heart for love and one for hate -comes from Svetlana Alexievich’s book about women and war.
I must read that then…