The Smell of Parsely

soul’s winter

colleen Poetry , , , ,

 

Another poem in the section called The Smell of Parsley .  You will see why after you read it a few times.

‘It amazes me how close is death to the birth of new life. ‘ We are reminded of this by nature over and over, how the sun bursts through after the darkest storm, how the new buds appear miraculously on the branch of a tree that some could think lifeless, and how the light overcomth the darkest of night each dawn. Nature shows us and we are reminded not to  loose hope in the dark, yet how often are we  ‘stunned in the impasse of unknowing.’ 

This poem tells of an incident of waiting    ‘stunned in the impasse of unknowing‘.  The waiting in the dark and cold  of nights.  Maybe it could be said the last line was not needed but I added it anyway.

winter tree

 

 

soul’s winter

waiting in winter
on the cusp of spring
for a baby to be born
feels as if the world
has taken a vow of silence
and time is paralysed

it amazes me how close is death
to the birth of new life

outside a straggly wet mop of a day
droops in
skeletal limbs of trees x-rayed against sky
shudder like brittle bones
breathing just a little
tremulously

their cold black presence
chills my blood
stirs thoughts of death
i sense its shadow
shiver in its grip

my heart fumbles
like one lost in a dark night
stunned in the impasse of unknowing

i want to believe that this will change
and that I will soon
be dazzled

and i am

 

The Smell of Parsley

colleen General , , , ,

This is the fourth section of my Poetry Anthology.  This was the intended name of the book of poetry originally, before the decision was made for the more apt  title:

A Call to Listen.

The Smell of Parsley comes from a quote in the the play Under Milkwood by the poet Dylan Thomas. The blind Captain Cat dreams  of the  drowned sailors from the swamped S.S. Kidwelly and from the after-life the first sailor asks  him loudly and rather whimsically  ‘What’s  the smell of  parsley?  The message I got from this . . . take time to enjoy the senses here on earth for when we die we could miss them.  In Wilder’s play Our Town the  dead character Emily is asked what she misses about life the most , and she answers “I miss the smell of parsely”  Hence The Smell Of Parsely seemed an appropriate title for this section of the book which deals with  the senses including autumn and winter and jacarandas and moments in the garden. Enjoy the next  9 poems.