Something Whispered

A poem.

 

Something Whispered
© 2006 Mark Pearce

 

 

Verse completed.
A sad tale of
Youth and death.
One interpretation of
A battle for the ages.

Gettysburg.

Proud,
I post the verse to the world
Bypassing those closest;
Lover.  Brothers.  Friends.

Strangers experience the quatrains
Of color, and questions, and life.
Those dearest withheld.
As the auteur and the culprit,
I don’t know why.

Beyond the literary,
Pages of our realities
Turn slowly, most often.

Pleasure and sadness expand
To fill chinks between
Life’s non sequiturs.
But there are times when
Characters and plot
Turn violently fast.

One such turn – a painful one;
Hopeful for another day well spent,
My brother dies alone.

I can’t say whether he
Saw the colors and
Heard the sounds
Of my “Gettysburg.”

I can’t say whether he
Fought the moment or
Pleasantly succumbed
To colors’ ebb.

But as I clean out his desk
Of personal effects
A special moment comes upon me.

Dipping into a deep drawer
I pull out a book.
Like a freshly baptized teenager
Breaking water’s crest
I draw that book
Into my line of sight.

Something speaks here,
Though I have trouble
Interpreting the message.

I lay the book down
And take in a breath
Of new awareness.

The volume lies face up,
Communicating so much more
Than its title.

A work by Stephen Sears.

“Gettysburg.”

 

Author's Note

This is where I'm supposed to beg for mercy.

Reviews

[holly]

Your poem is heartbreaking. The almost-connections, the not-quite-revelations, the muted sorrow are so familiar. "Something speaks here - Though I have trouble - interpreting the message" could be the motto for so many distantly close relationships. The double imagery of

"Dipping into a deep drawer
I pull out a book.
Like a freshly baptized teenager
Breaking water's crest
I draw that book
Into my line of sight."

is very fine. Thank you for posting this.

[poet2angels (lynda)]

I enjoyed reading this....

Loved these lines:

"Beyond the literary,
Pages of our realities
Turn slowly, most often."
Made me think

Excellent poetry once again

Lynda

[Rhonda]

Wow. Beg for mercy? Never.

I love the lines "Beyond the literary, Pages of our realities." It seems that there shouldn't be a comma between these two lines.

-R

[Mysty Rayn]

Wonderfully written, thoughts well displayed. I enjoyed this piece.

[Emily B]

A bond never shared. One of those moments that you wish you could have had before. Bits and pieces of his life laid out before you, the puzzle of his life in your hands.

This is where I'm supposed to beg for mercy. Your words were well beyond anything I might have asked for. Thank you for sharing.