Thursday, November 1, 2018

Apple On The Sill

My window at night
fills itself with breeze.
A halved apple remembers its old love,
and the white blossoms thick on the trees.

Over the graveyard, the tile roofs, the fields,
come the reaper, the mother, the breeze.
It is late, the ghosts sing madrigals
for the priest in the church on his knees.

My window at night
fills itself with breeze
in the form of black plumed horses
saying, "Come, flor blanca, please."
_______

for this, in honor of the Day of the Dead, and Federico Garcia Lorca


13 comments:

  1. The third line is a poem in itself... as perfect as the apple, halved from itself. Such an impact in every visual detail.

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  2. O Lorca. There was a season decades ago when I read nothing but Spanish pots - Lorca, Jimenez, Paz, Machado, Neruda. Their common surreal landscape returns so powerfully here - and why not, on this Day of the Dead? The halved apple and flor blanca evoke a remembered face still visible, perhaps especially, in the dark ... Thanks for this frail candle.

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  3. Such a beautiful poem for the Day of the Dead.

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  4. Thank you for explaining the Mexican day of the dead to me, that it isn't about the silly stitch painted mouths if the women, but a true honoring if the beloved dead. The second stanza is sad perfection.

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  5. Oh, this is so beautiful. I love poems that stir emotion. I feel I am right there in that windowsill. Thank you so much for participating in the prompt, and I am so thankful Dia de Los Muertes could urge you to write again.

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  6. This is wonderful, even if it's not said I can actually feel the scent of that apple.

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  7. Perfect words in the perfect order! xo

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  8. As others have said, this is beautiful, amazing poetry. As usual leaving me tongue tied.

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  10. Shay, this is so stunning. My favourite line is 'A halved apple remembers its old love', which reminds of the Irish saying which Kate Bush adopted into her song 'Moments of Pleasure': "Every old sock meets an old shoe".

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  11. Perfect for the Day of the Dead. I love the title!

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don't be stupid.