Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Never the Same

art by George Grie at neosurrealismart.com


You can never
grab
the moment.
It’ll pass –
even the ones
you’ll
desperately
want
to hold into
your being.

You will never feel
that overwhelming joy
again
or that
paralysing sorrow –
only shadows of them,
only ghosts –
and all the intricate feelings,
and thoughts,
and sensations
that have made up
this year
and the other,
the subtle flavour of days,
the light in your child’s
or your father’s
eyes
will be little more than a certain
kind of bittersweet nostalgia
pressed in between
the pages of a worn scrapbook,
or simply gone...

Onward we go,
we trudge
we fly,
other horizons
will lure us,
deceive us,
upon other shores
we’ll step.
Never the same,
never the same.

21 comments:

Lisa said...

This poem is exactly what I feel today. xo

Catherine Vibert said...

So true...time is like that.

Akasha Savage. said...

How beautiful was your writing!...and I love the picture. :D

BernardL said...

You nailed it, Vesper, and so few realize you can't go back to, relive, or revive a moment.

Charles Gramlich said...

Very true.

K.Lawson Gilbert said...

I know...I think about this sometimes and get so melancholy - but, as you say...onward we go. A very appropriate poem for today - as we stand on the brink of change.

the walking man said...

"...You will never feel
that overwhelming joy
again
or that
paralysing sorrow –
only shadows of them,
only ghosts..."

This singular line above all the others resonates in me.

Thanks for further insight V.

laughingwolf said...

excellent piece, v :)

while still in my early teens i discovered: the only constant is change

Marilyn Brant said...

How well you captured something that it, at its core, uncapturable (not a word, I realize, but you know what I mean :). I love this line: "...other horizons will lure us, deceive us..." Beautiful as always, Vesper.

Miladysa said...

Sooo true!

*LOVE* this :D

Geraldine said...

Absolutely brilliant Vesper. I am so glad I stopped by to enjoy this. So very true too...

Hugs,G

www.mypoeticpath.wordpress.com

L.A. Mitchell said...

You *had* to know I'd adore the time thing. You hit on so many things that I seek to wrap my mind around and so many wishes we all share to revisit, just once more.

Beautiful, as always, V :)

Aine said...

Yes-- all we have is "now". So embrace it. The great thing is that we can make every "now" as wonderful as we want. Sometimes we need to experience a moment that hurts, but that serves to make the next "now" feel even better.

I love these poems that capture a truth so beautifully! Nice one, Vesper!

Taffiny said...

never the same.

It is both a kind of curse, and a wonerful blessing.

You have beautifully perceived and expressed it. Magnificent, :) .

Vesper said...

Thank you, everybody, for reading and taking the time to leave me some of your thoughts… It’s very much appreciated! :-)

Lisa, I’m glad it offered a connection. It comes to my mind quite often, lately. xo

Cat, it is like that fortunately, and unfortunately…

Akasha, thank you! I find the picture an inspiration for some dark fantastic tales… :-)

Bernard, I discovered, and thought about this a long time ago, that you cannot and should not go back…

Charles, we have to go with the flow of time…

K., yes, it makes me sad too… I would like to say hopeful too, but it’s mostly melancholy… I’m glad you’ve found something in this poem for you today… :-)

Mark, I’m glad this resonated in you… Thank you!

LW, yes, change… For me the world seemed to stay still until I was about nineteen. It’s running faster and faster now… Thank you, I’m glad you liked this poem. :-)

Marilyn, I simply love this word, uncapturable - wonderful, thank you! :-)

Miladysa, I sooo wish it weren’t true, many times… Thank you! I’m glad you liked this.:-)

Geraldine, and I am very glad that you stopped by... Thank you!
*hugs*

L.A., yes, I know about you and the time thing… :-) Thank you! I’m glad you liked this because I have a …time thing too… :-) I’m very much obsessed with time.

Aine, I love your optimistic views. A much needed uplifting attitude… I’m glad you liked this. Thank you!

Taffiny, you’re right, curse and blessing… Thank you for your kind words!

Unknown said...

Beautiful, sad, haunting - lovely words, Vesper.

Cynthia said...

Well-written and so very true.
A beautifully elusive time, turned
over and over again in our minds.

SzélsőFa said...

Nice observations here, Vesper - reading your poem felt like looking at a faaded photograph of the deceased...

Yet - some emotions are even stronger when looked back. You should definitely write about when something *just* happens, it hardly even touches you and than a time later, dang, there you'll have it: a storm and whirpool.

Vesper said...

Thank you, my dear Vanilla! xoxoxo

Cynthia, thank you for your kind words. Welcome to my blog!

SzélsőFa, faded photographs... You know, I look at the photos of my daughters as babies, and they are just a few years old, not faded, and I can recall the feelings that filled my heart then, and I remember exactly what they were, yet they are not the same... And I remember my desperate grief at my Grandmother's passing, but after 22 years there's only a dull pain left... Good, bad, time makes them all uniform in the end...

Sarah Hina said...

I have the same obsession with time, the same desperate need to cling to moments before they slide through my fingers. Everything seems like once upon, or someday, but there is never enough of now.

We're never the same, but maybe our desire is.

Beautifully melancholy, Vesper. As always, you speak to me in a language I understand. And I find comfort in that.

Vesper said...

You're right, Sarah, our hopes and desires are probably very much the same, even though the "now" changes constantly... the same "now" will not come back, but others, new ones, will...
Thank you!