Monday, May 13, 2019

What We Hold

"Fruition" by Autumn Skye
Artwork Website

Also linking with Poets United for Poetry Pantry # 498

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 55
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It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.  ~Voltaire



My mother carried the eastern sunrise within her womb
But the only vision her eyes could hold
Was the western sunset leading to the dark of night
A life so full of promise and hope
But her heart did not have the strength
To lift hope up and her sunset came way too soon
As a child I decided early I wanted more than
Whiskey
Valium and the same 4 walls
I longed to hold hope
Like a flag for all to see
Then when I held life
My womb was full of the hope of one hundred explorers
On westward seas
My world was expanded and my heart enlarged
And this expansion has only grown with time
What the heart can hold is larger than
The vision eyes could ever behold.


23 comments:

  1. The first line is just... stunning. I can almost see the speaker's eyes full of that sun, how the light dims when the mother follows the sunset, how the light returns when she decides that she will hold on to the light of hope.

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    1. Thank you so much Magaly. I am so glad you liked it. It was kind of a dark poem even in it's hopefulness. It is my poetic view of my mother's loss of hope.

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  2. I love this Carrie, my favorite line "as a child knowing I wanted more" and you have accomplished just that! A beautiful write!

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  3. Thank you Regina your kind words have have made my day! 💜

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  4. Carrie, this really touches my soul! Some people do lose hope and other's will keep going. I understand both. I'm happy to say, I'm keeping going now and trusting with all my soul!
    (Thanks for coming by my blog! I'm really behind in blog land!)
    Big Hugs!

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    1. It means so much to me that this poem touched you so. I love your blog and so enjoy your artwork!!

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  5. This says so much about the often complicated relationship between mothers and daughters. I think of the things that constrained women of previous generations and remember that one of the best gifts we can give the ones that come after us is hope and faith that they can live in a world free of what wounds us.

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  6. This is excellent. It sounds like you were determined from young on to have a different life than your mother; and it seems you achieved it. Your last two lines say it all! Blessings to you and the way you have overcome and lived a more positive life!

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  7. How beautiful that you reclaimed the hope your mum lost. The last two lines are exquisite.

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  8. Wow. How timely. I have a Mother prompt coming up at Toads on November 5th.......maybe you will link this poem? Your poem - and your journey - are wonderful. Sometimes, our lives are shaped by not wanting to choose the path our mothers did, and we live lives beyond our wildest dreams. That certainly has been true for me. Someone, somehow, gave me some hope back then! But then, I have always been a dreamer.

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  9. Oh this is so sad, it seems like your mother couldn't keep the dream in her heart... what a great heritage to have, and the choice of avoiding the shortcuts your mother tried (and died) taking.

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  10. So much emotion conveyed here within your writing, thank you for sharing with us all.

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  11. This is so utterly exquisite, Carrie!❤️ I have fresh tears forming in my eyes at the sheer power of your lines .. touched!

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  12. This is heartbreaking and gorgeous...the sunrise and the sunset giving way to more light and more ways to follow it.

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  13. Your poem re-enforces that we can change the course of history. It gives one strength to walk a different path. I say dream forward...

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  14. The last two lines of this are so true and so very deep.

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  15. So powerful and true. This is a beautiful transformation across generations. I love the direct intention to heal the family trajectory. Very well written.

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  16. Wow! A wonderfully rendered - truly profound - piece of writing, Carrie.

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  17. What a splendid poem, in so many ways. (And wonderful image you found, too.)

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  18. this is a stunning poem.
    some will follow their hearts, and the paths they have mapped out.
    i really love the last two lines :"What the heart can hold is larger than
    The vision eyes could ever behold."

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  19. A wonderful opening line and a fantastic poem, Carrie. I love the contrast between sunrise’s hope of new life and the despair of darkness after sunset.

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  20. I love the insight and wisdom in this poem - like setting your own path in life

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  21. I like the metaphors in this.

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