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credit:Ulrika Ekblom, Liselotte Forslin |
Winter's Table
Harvest home binds the
kisses,
sheaves the darkening hours--
your gathered caresses,
warm-rounded as gourds,
paint shadows under the fallen sun
on my breast of browning grass.
Set winter's table
with these discards of fall;
in candlelit evenings,
by last firefly's whispering,
everything's told:
how
how
gardens of the secret heart
have gone to seed,
full-blown.
55 secret seeds, blown away for the g-man, wherever he is and
Image attribution:
Fall in the Forest: Photo Ulrika EkblomStyling Liselotte Forslin, http://bit.ly/Zko1WF
No copyright infringement intended
Autumn Leaves, 1924, by Georgia O'Keefe
May be protected by copyright. Fair use via wikiart.org
Autumn Leaves, 1924, by Georgia O'Keefe
May be protected by copyright. Fair use via wikiart.org
This is incredibly lovely ... big sigh. Fall where I live seems to last forever, which I love.
ReplyDeleteAh. Lovely. A lovely paen (sp) to aging love in all its forms--aging people/lovers, or even love itself that has aged and mellowed ==although this mellowing doesn't seem a cooling down truly! As it is quite sensual with all this gourdish word play--but it's all very lovingly and gently done--I especially like the close I think--well all of it--the discards of fall seem pretty good--and also perhaps like discards of THE fall--kind of nice to have a garden of this kind of knowledge (that is, of the secret heart.) k.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I have edited it just a bit after you got here, k--I didn't like that first line. Thanks for the response I wanted though--a sigh, replete, which is how I find this fall.
DeleteSheaves the darkening hours is just lovely--I can't remember what came before the binding of the kisses, but that certainly goes with the sheaves. I very much like the gathered caresses--a very nice notion--collecting something like that. My husband is telling me to hurry. Thanks! k.
DeleteI admire the sheaves of the darkening hour and setting of the winter's table with these discards of fall ~ Amazing 55 secret seeds ~
ReplyDeleteI hope Galen feels these kisses :) "Warm rounded as gourds" is gorgeous and this just gets me in the mood for fall! I'm so ready - actually hiking in the mountains with my college age daughter Sunday - Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteLovely is the word. I hate to echo, but it's true. This has a delicacy and a light, pretty touch to it, without entirely abandoning the shadow side of things. Perfect, Joy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent image to muse on...I enjoy where you took it...especially the idea of the last firefly whispering...lovely, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteHow glorious. I LOVE the photo of that late-fall table - is that in your back yard? Love your beautiful poem....sigh........it was a feast in here tonight.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sherry. I found the pic on facebook--credits at the bottom of post.
DeleteYour poem in combination with the pictures are incredibly comforting!
ReplyDeleteYou use the bliss of harvest so well, for me, what can I say but agree wholeheartedly with the testimonials above.. The better part of autumn indeed
ReplyDeleteAnd fully lived. Love.
ReplyDeleteMay the seeds of poetry scatter far and wide and find fertile soil.
ReplyDeleteThis reads like a chant... Something to sing to the silvery soul while smiling and thinking about all the good experiences (and that bad, too) which makes a person who they are.
ReplyDeleteDark, rich, and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent work!
ReplyDeleteZQ
but what has gone to seed will grow again on the other side of the great sleep...
ReplyDeletethe last fireflies light conjures a cool image of intimacy around that table....
Such a beautiful poem of Autumn. Where I live there isn't much of a Fall...just slowly lowering temperatures.
ReplyDeletehow gardens of the secret heart
ReplyDeletehave gone to seed,full-blown.
It has finally outgrown itself. Given time it will! Wonderful write Joy!
Hank
oh man, too many gourd jokes spring to mind. i am juvenile. this is lovely!
ReplyDeleteThis piece gives a powerful sense of something larger, darker and 'other' lurking behind the otherwise familiar images of the season of change. All capped by a perfect resolution. Terrific poem in all regards.
ReplyDeletelove the ending, and all of it ~
ReplyDeleteThanks, M--I truly appreciate you going back through the pages--I hope you don't feel that you are obliged to--I do understand when the social thing gets old, poetry or no poetry.
Delete