Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Absence



"A good companion shortens the longest road."
-Turkish Proverb

I wrote the following Haiku-form poem on the occasion of Spouse's last trip away from home. Despite the lonely days I spent, there was still that glad awareness of their being temporary. The house would not be empty for long.
This was written, then, not as an overstatement about Spouse's absence, but in regard to the void that lonely people suffer the world over, without respite.

Gone

He has gone away
emptying all the days like the
sound of one hand clapping

or the smell of bread
that turns out, at last, flawless and
no one there to agree

or a word that's just
out of reach, the tip of the tongue
no one to ask, it melts

like the sound of one
hand clapping through duplicate days
when he has gone away.

-TheElementary

7 comments:

Beth said...

what a beautiful poem. You did a nice job of expressing the missing companion. Did he like it?

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Thanks Beth. Yes, he did! He quite liked it. Thanks for asking :)

julochka said...

wow! that actually gave me goose bumps. i'll bet you're going to miss him again!!! but isn't it worth it (a little bit) if it helps you produce such beautiful words?

Barb said...

Your poem is beautiful. We take such comfort don't we with just knowing of the presence of another?

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Julie, goosebumps are a real compliment! Yes, I will miss him but no doubt I'll be lyrical and meditative while he's away :) And I have some sprouting onion plants to attend to so I'll be busy.

Barb, having somebody there is wonderful. We don't talk to each other all that much all the time but it's so different when one of us isn't there. We spent our first year of marriage apart (I was in Ireland trying to get a visa to come here) and we appreciate the time we have even more. Thanks for your thoughts on the poem and its topic. You're a valued reader :)

Pappy said...

Great sentiment and great poem.

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Texican, with comments like that, missing two days of 'The' is all forgiven :)

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