Stray

On a wooden table

black, befuddled

pierced in bones through metal cage

in darkened mind

I stood with disbelief,

 

I stood among hours of aftermath as

you passed from body, passed from hands

and back again into the lustful earth where you were claimed

 

unbearable these floods that follow

emaciated in states of shock 

bitter the worms and hide

a doleful death that

leaves no wound so deep as that

left behind

 

softer the sword

graces gently through my chest

your blood in rivers curved ornamental

red as the day your eyes laid set and still

the flies with earthen tongues hovered in mourning

obliged to slow their willful aim

 

powerless

knowing soon

we would both breathe no longer

I knelt,

pierced with the same sudden stillness

sweetly unkind, then numb as only death can bring

I carried you home in my arms

and gently laid you down

 

for days we gave

our last goodbyes

 

It is not the suffering that yields me now

nor these days I still keep to my promise

rather the wonder

for it was hours that just before

we walked the woods alone

 

forgiving the hunter his aim,

his metal, his stray

 

my arms through the darkness

desperate to sweep you alive,

but unable to save what love cannot

in moments permitted as these

as we are both alone

to our own submerged beliefs

my abandoned sleep to endure,

my last and broken fade

my lost goodnight come morning then

to the mind's undressing day

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Reading your other reviews, I get the feeling you might've lost a pet companion . . . if so, I'm sorry for your loss. As I read your poem once, I'm reminded of adopting a very old dog knowing full well our union would be brief. He ended up dying of cancer within months. The second time reading your poem, I stood back for a wider view . . . ALL the older strays I've adopted over the years . . . sometimes half our time together is watching a pet grow old & gray & then nursing it thru a long period of dying. Why do I do this, I thought as I read your poem (a question I never asked myself before) . . . am I strong enuf to keep doing this, once I finally lose my current batch of pets? Your writing is a powerful kaleidoscope of the reasons I'm drawn to do it, combined with the reasons it's sometimes too excruciating (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Perdition]

Thanks Margie...they do leave such a vast emptiness when they go don't they?...Such a wonderful chapter when we are chosen though ...couldn't trade it If I tried. ((Hugs)).

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

Did you lose another companion? Was Chaz the first ones name ? and Molly another right? My memories have become so fuzzy...like my eyes. So sorry for your loss. Ive lost three since last we spoke aloud...never an easy time. Healing vibes my friend.

[Perdition]

Okay...my head is officially tilting? Aloud?? only one person on this site who is an old friend do I speak aloud with from here and that goes back to Poetry.com days some seventeen years ago...?? Thanks?

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

Has it been 17yrs since old blue was around? NO can't be that long?

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

well okay maybe so...at least what 10 since Myspace died... okay ...your right! at least this one time LOL

[jacob erin-cilberto]

accidental shooting...sounds like maybe a canine companion accidentally shot...there is much sadness in this poem, but forgiveness as well...
i could also see in this an allegory of a couple losing a child to still birth...having to bury him or her before the child gets any chance to greet the world...and the hunter who misaimed could be God...and our thought of why this happened...and maybe it was not really meant to be...just a tragic accident as well.
your writing is original and stimulating...
j.

[Perdition]

Thanks J. Your intuition is deeply amazing...I'm holding back on this one because it still hits personal and closer than I'd like to think..just had to get this away from me and the meaning is just a leaf twirling in a season of a season called unexplainable or "what the hell and why?"...but thank you for your wonderful insight...truly amazingly and deeply talented.