Bridging The Divide

Shadows were cast between us,
the immutable silence
of words meant and left unsaid
and words said but never meant.
We had no need to discuss
the shifting scales’ imbalance.
We felt the break in the thread
and grew pale in love’s lament.

I fell with the autumn rain
and the sweep of the willow,
my lashes waving goodbye
to the back of your disgrace.
I crumbled beneath the pain
that surfaced on my pillow,
curled into the blackest sky
and the storm cloud of your face.

The strength to love has left me.
I feel weighted down with stones,
and leaves fall off like raindrops
or a string of pearls untied.
My room and heart are empty,
and I ache within my bones.
Clouds tangle in the treetops
but cannot bridge the divide.

Author's Note

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is brilliant writing that evokes a ton of regret & cherishing, all tangled up. I was completely immersed in how it felt when a similar person (best friend) died in my life a few years back. What I love about your depiction of memories . . . it doesn't feel like the narrator is haranguing him/herself at all . . . this feels like the process of remembering honors the mistakes & breaks people go thru together & apart, all tangled over years . . . so realistically & powerfully (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Robert Trakofler]

is the weight of your create or of his debase... I wonder as you gaze the clouds from your forest perhaps it is not my business, I am after all, just a witness peering into your pillow but I cant help but feel a heavy sigh but i'm not sure why. but I also cant help but feel a sorrow for this soul for the loss of such a heart will strike a heavy blow. (LOL as if I wouldn't know:) I do like the way you use words dear one kind of angry I haven't met you before got a lot to catch up to

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Losing that love, that once-in-a-lifetime, soulful love is soul-rending. The tears, the flood, the rush of emotional anguish, the hopefulness shattered, the ache that ensues through the years; and inevitably, the sorrowful acceptance of what you cannot change leave you numb. Thoughts flutter the heart every now and again, but there's no resuscitation. There never was anger, just a broken-winged bird who lost the will to fly.

[Robert Trakofler]

Oh god you are just like me! I am so sorry:(

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

LOL! Nothing to be sorry about. We love deeply to the core.

[Kesch (Finding Julia)]

The strength to love has left me.
I feel weighted down with stones,
and leaves fall off like raindrops
or a string of pearls untied.

I really love this part, This is so good. I really enjoyed this write. Awesome

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Thank you for visiting with me again. I appreciate it.

[CD Campbell]

What Emi said. Plus I might add that the odd meter of 3 and a half with the rhyme scheme shows that you are willing to express your art by your own terms with a balance of some flexibility. Its clever and should not be discounted. I dont say that as a master of form or a critic, which I'm neither, but it is appreciated by one who tries to be clever and at most times misses the forest for the trees.
As far as the body of the work, it is a great poetic description of love that is being tortured in the process of mending. Pain not unlike an incision that can only be dulled by extreme distraction or harsh medicine. Wonderful work. CD

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Thank you.

[Chris Shaw]

I truly felt the sorrow of a betrayed heart here. Betrayed because of the following lines :

my lashes waving goodbye
to the back of your disgrace

Stunning imagery and extremely well crafted. Beautiful work.

Chris

[Fay Slimm]

Oh the resounding pathos in these well-rhymed lines - - you capture the desolation of of a heart emptied of hope -- - I noted the flow that slowly proscribes words from discussion and leaves the silence of love's lament. First rate writing Linda.

[JR]

I really enjoy your choice of non-conventional images... "My room and heart are empty, / and I ache within my bones..." such a great description of sorrow and loss. I think everyone has felt that ache within them, and we are all carrying stones. This totally captures the disintegration of a once great loving relationship. You keep your reader engaged all the way through, nice work.

[Karmee]

Straight from the heart, this is so lovely and full of emotions. I enjoyed this

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Linda Marie... a string of pearls untied... elegance lost.
I fell with the autumn rain... upon your window pane...
Your style is like leaves gathering in a storm where
emotions scatter and love matters. As ever, Pat

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Thank you, Pat. Love always matters. It's the only thing that does. :-)

[Patricia Wedel]

We were created to love... and therefor we do love... only an earthquake could deter our mission.

[emipoemi]

I've read a whole bunch of your work - and have pretty much gushed over all of them to the point where it would be virtually impossible to pick a favourite. BUT this one, I find, is your best in musicality - the way it flowed and every image carefully strung together like tile in a beautiful mosaic. You can barely hear the rhymes land when they do because the flow brilliantly distracts you from the rhythm and shows us that poems CAN flow freely and still rhyme well (I've had my attempts at performing this - "The Horizon" an example off the top of my head).

This is brilliant as always, Linda. Well done!!

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Thank you. This poem for me was strange. It is actually a rarity, which is strange. It's one of the few that, while the effort was the same, actually reads as though it doesn't rhyme at all. Bizarre! I think it's the odd meter and the abcdabcd pattern. For me, it doesn't imbue the emotions so fluidly; but I like the outcome nonetheless. This is definitely a unique one from me. Thank you for reading and for reviewing.

[emipoemi]

my pleasure.