Loss

I have not personally lost someone that was very close to me, but I have observed others that have lost, and I am trying to get a grasp on it I guess.

Is that you when the light turns green
On a day when I happen to be running late?

Are you the flower that makes me take another glance
and sometimes close my eyes and
embrace the fragrance

Are you that pleasant feeling of fresh cut grass beneath my feet?
Are you that glimmer of good in the eyes of strangers that I meet?

I like to think you are these things
that catch me by surprise
And make me have faith in the world again
And take each day in stride

Reviews

[James Hanna-Magill]

Dear Emily

I have been flicking through your recent poetry and found it difficult to choose which to review first.

Why?

Because in the end I felt like I wanted to achieve the impossible and review them all in one go, in one statement, which would serve no useful purpose.

But if I were to try, my opinion would be, from those few I have read, there is a tender light and simplicity that shines through all of them.

I picked this to start but I shall be back for more.

Why did I pick this one?

Because of the few I have looked at the 'message' of this piece is not as easily discernible at first glance as others. It is more allegory than fact.

I can review in all sorts of ways: style, structure, metre, rhyme ...

Take it for granted that I regard all those as working well here.

But I just want to focus on meaning in this piece.

Had you not explained the background to the poem, your wish to capture the feelings associated with the loss of someone close, the meaning would not have jumped straight off the page at me, though the title would have given me a helping hand.

Would that have mattered?

I think it wouldn't.

In fact I never think it does when I read / review.

I would have still admired it as a well shaped poem to which I would have ascribed my own meaning.

However on letting me into the secret, I can now see as if through your eyes.

I no longer need my own light to guide the way.

The remarkable in this poem is that you take the sadness of loss and convert it into benign and enlightened acceptance.

To start I see something of pantheism and reincarnation in this poem.

That a soul departed may be a 'green' 'light', a 'flower', 'fresh cut grass' or my favourite line: 'that glimmer of good in the eyes of strangers that I meet'

However within that line and throughout the poem shines something much more brightly than the merely pantheistic.

And that is hope!

A belief in underlying goodness in this rather dysfunctional world.

A belief in beauty in a world that can sometimes seem very dark.

As your last lines state, all the things you see:

' ... make me have faith in the world again
And take each day in stride.'

As a sample, this piece (such is my experience in all I read) tells me as much about the style of the writer as the writer him or herself.

Not here the embittered tone.

Not here the world of darkness and evil.

Not here the tears of anguish.

Rather a strength of vision that the world we inhabit is a beautiful place.

That within the hearts of those with whom we rub shoulders daily, there is still a light to share, however deep it may have been buried by the trials of life.

Keep that gentle spirit, Emily.

Keep that hope which this beautiful poem so firmly grasps.

And never ever let it go, whatever may befall you in life.

A charming poem.

With my best wishes


James

[Emily Feret]

Wow, I am at a loss for words. What a touching review. Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. Reviews like that make me want to write more. There is always hope in life, and I have always tried to be that "glass is half full" type of girl. And I have always tried to infect others with that ideal. James again, I cannot thank you enough for this remarkable start to my day.

Emily

[James Hanna-Magill]

Dear Emily

All I can say to you in response to that is you have just brightened up my day too, through the words of this poem and the gentle spirit of the writer, which restore my belief in humanity.

James

[Roger Turgeon]

You have one of the most inspired images of loss I can remember. So positive....it speaks to the fond memory of the one who has passed

[Emily Feret]

I try to always remember the good. Thank you for the kind words.

[Prritiy]

beautiful! loved the gentleness it portrayed and the love in it.

[ChemicalMadness]

Wonderfully light approach to a very weighty subject...I really like the piece. I like to think you are these things....great line.

CM

[Emily Feret]

Thank you CM! Thank you so much!

[Legolas]

Very nice poem. This is exactly the way someone would feel losing a close person to them.

[Emily Feret]

Thank you!

[Peter H]

u can work on this one abit, never the less i can feel the emotion in it ,its very profound simple and sweet :)

[Emily Feret]

agreed!

[David Scott]

Poetic thought. Again, it is consistant in youthful form as well as thought process. I will love to see your writing mature, but I enjoy this crisp salad of words. Fresh and nourishing if we can do without all the dressings and cooking instructions.
I enjoyed the reflection of something your trying to grasp.

[Emily Feret]

thank you for such an insightful review!

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Emily,

Great insight

Always,

Matthew
A.

[Emily Feret]

Thank you so so much!

[Matthew Kult]

Welcome

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good way to look at life. To lose someone we needed. We wish to have them close always. I like the thoughts and the desires in the poem. A very good ending to a outstanding poem.
Coyote

[Emily Feret]

Coming from someone as talented as yourself, that means so so much!

[beautiful dreamer]

i recently lost one of my friends. this is a very good poem it relates very well!

[Emily Feret]

I am so so sorry for your loss

[beautiful dreamer]

its okay i'm getting through. she's in a better place now. very good poem