Forever With the Mockingbird

My contribution to the pantheon of mockingbird poems. Please read author notes

This poem has moved. Be sure to click on the youtube link below to read and listen:)

Audio at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP3EodGw_iE

Published in Strays. Available on Amazon.

Strays is a collection of two extended narratives and more than forty love-themed poems, exploring the meaning of romantic love while we have it and attempting to find the healing after its loss. Found within these pages is the short story Gutter Dog, the novelette Ginni, and the poems False Skin, the Boy Who Wore Clothes, and the Black-Wit Reveller.

Author's Note

This piece was composed quite awhile ago. At the time, I believed that another had denied me romantic love, obviously as the content above would suggest, I felt my due. By certain measures this individual did indeed behave badly, leading one along the garden path so to speak, ending our relationship because of a more easily recognizable pull of ego. But I realize now, he was no more guilty of ego than I. I thought he might somehow fulfil me. The second stanza represents this, the laying of one bare so the other can heal you. An impossible thing to ask from another human being and he fled. Who could blame him, really? But still, I did not give over to what was and I waited him out. He won. Tears to shards, I created my own suffering again by not accepting what was. So as the title would suggest the joke really was on me, but not for the reason I thought. The last stanza has now taken on entirely different meaning. I assure you, It is not my heart that is lost and forgotten. And it's not him either.

Reviews

[kublakhan27]

Having just returned to the site last night after a month or so, my reviewing skills are rusty...I can only say that this piece was rather heart-wrenching, one of the most personal I believe I've read by you...I think we all have a story that never ended the way we had hoped, but I've always believed that everything happens for a reason...it's a bit of a cliche but I still believe it...phenomenal work Pryde...I come away from this piece feeling like I know you better.

[Pryde Foltz]

Wonderful review. Thank you, Steve.

[Frieda P]

Ahh the famed mockingbird, you gave it a whole new coat of feathers, this one flew.

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Frieda. Yes, that dear bird does get a lot of flack.

[sayed Mudasir Ali]

heart break.............I always knew you were the most beautiful women on earth.

You wanted only flesh
Torn shreds of bared loin

I kept my heart
I sang my verse
You preferred the mockingbird

These lines say it all ......................blessings and cheers

[Pryde Foltz]

Oh Sayed … you are a sweet one. Thank you.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

the confusion depicted well here, but then there is still flight...i like the use of mockingbird...mocking him mocking yourself too...sometimes ego overrides love and sharing and just being together...but we learn...and the next time we are more willing to compromise.

a very elaborately constructed piece.

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Jacob:)

[Troy Henson]

Such a beautiful write depicting the heart ache of lost love dressed with confusion. I felt the words, the lines, the meaning.

Well done.

Regards
Troy

[Pryde Foltz]

Thanks Troy.

[An owl on the moon]

There is a beautiful, bittersweet letting go here.. and such a personal write.. deeply felt.. deeply voiced... such words paint the world for remembrance.. and a new dawn for loving...

[Pryde Foltz]

Very kind. Thank you, Craig.

[Sami Khalil]

"My voice has lost its melody
My winged-heart is clipped
But still it’s found flight
Flown away, lost and forgotten
Forever with the mockingbird"

Your voice does have its melodies, your broken wings are growing back for the fly, your tears are wetting the fabric of sadness. I love the sadness and little blaming in this write. Excellent as usual. You never fail us...:)................

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Sami.

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome...:).........................

[Jon Roggie]

I have a hard time choosing which is better, the poem or the notes. Each reflect the honesty of the moment.

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Jon. They do sort of go together:)

[just Penny]

I don't think I have ever read any of your darker poetry, nor any about lost love, so this was quite a treat ! The mockingbird is apt in this scenario and I love the lines
"I laid out my heart
In a finger-boned bowl
Feathered breast-plate smashed
You wanted only flesh
Torn shreds of bared loin"
That's such a moving, painful part of a wonderfully written piece. As to the Author's note, I don't think many of us accept "what was", preferring a constructed reality instead because it's easier to bear. I really relate to the thought that someone might "fulfill"" you. I have made that error too and learned that I had to do it myself. I have. Excellent writing here, Pryde. Penny

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Penny. And you make a fine a point. We do like to change what was to keep our ego alive.

[icelandicblue]

We are sometimes masters of our own suffering. You can feel the suffering throughout the poem but in the end I think you are finally free.

[Pryde Foltz]

Yep … I took what should have been a moment of suffering and made it months. Thank you, Icyblue.