Thursday, February 21, 2008

Poem of the Week

Boy, posting these is really unnerving. I don't know why poetry is so much scarier to post than prose, but it is. This poem is an old one.

CRY

Cry against the dark night of shining tears
Whose source you do not know
Joy and sorrow
Blending in rivers of no source, no end
The restless stillness of life's passing

Cry against the dark night of dreamless sleep
And sleepless dreams
All levels blending into something else
Can rainbow colors see themselves or know their hues?
Where is the light I seek (too bright to bear)
The light whose music sings a soul to joy
Unlocks some caged and cowering power within
The light that is my soul and more
The light toward which I am perpetually turning,
Turning,
And turning too away
My blindness frightened at the prospect of such vision

Cry against the dark pain of all this loneliness
Our frail forms groping forth and falling back
Almost, but not quite, touching on the hand of God
Almost, but not quite, hearing the voice within

Cry for the unanswered prayers
The ones we do not know we make
Which the Universe, therefore, cannot answer
Cry for what we think we seek
Mistaking our own shadows for the face of God

Cry for the dark night of shining tears
For that imperfect strife which is mortality
Cry for the vision that remains unseen and out of reach
Within us.

- Katherine E. Rabenau

4 comments:

Linda Murphy said...

It is hard to put the poetry out there....not sure why.

Hmmm, this might be my favorite to date. Again, what I love is that what it meant to you and how I might interpret the same words for myself may be very different.

Very thought-provoking.

btw, I am really happy you included this poem feature-I look forward to it each week!

Dianne said...

I enjoy the poem feature too. This is a beautiful one. I read it twice and got a different image each time.

Raven said...

snoopmurph - thanks... I'm enjoying your Sunday poetry feature too both because the poetry is good and because I don't feel quite so alone posting. Thank you too Linda, for encouraging me to do this blog. I'm having fun.

Dianne - thanks. Most of my poetry is old, but I'd like to start writing again. I'm hoping that posting these older ones will get me working. I love the idea of that picture story of the month thing and think I may try to participate next month. Plus, it has given me an idea for a feature here for Sundays maybe.

Dianne said...

I hope you do participate in the Picture Fiction Challenge Raven. I went from being anxious about it to really enjoying it. Plus all the other participants are so kind and supportive. And REH is a really good writer who gave me some great advice.

He's posting the pictures for the next one on Monday.