From the bottom of the glass
The bubbles surround you in a sea of illusion,
And then you see the contents,
Joy! Connection!
And reach out to touch them.
But from within their world, there is only pain
And yet,
Hands push against the barrier,
And give you hope!
But the weave of the cloth is thick
And black,
It reeks of smoke and ash.
In fear, their hands retreat,
Only their eyes are visible now,
Empty and lost, they do not seek to find you.
The bubbles surround you in a sea of illusion,
And then you see the contents,
Joy! Connection!
And reach out to touch them.
But from within their world, there is only pain
And yet,
Hands push against the barrier,
And give you hope!
But the weave of the cloth is thick
And black,
It reeks of smoke and ash.
In fear, their hands retreat,
Only their eyes are visible now,
Empty and lost, they do not seek to find you.
6 comments:
Another powerful image, Cat. I just want to smear all those barriers, and let those colors run. But this does make for an interesting companion piece to your previous poem. Yes, the light and the dark.
It is all about fear. It has the power to drown out everything beautiful and positive in its wake. But it can also be overcome. By two or more.
Hi Sarah! I know, and I think you're entirely correct. I want to smear the barriers too, in real life. But it does take two or more, willing participants to remove those illusions of barriers that separate us. Sometimes those barriers are pretty spiky and thorny and it's best just to let people have them while YOU carry on knowing it is an illusion, keeping focused on that thread that joins us.
Cat - I enjoy all your poems, but this is my favorite so far. It is very deep, yet assessible and works magnificently with the artwork.
That is what I find interesting in life...people *think* they are connecting through artificial means. However, their relationships for that short time are forced and invalid. Those relationships, or even moments, can be very liberating and fantastically fun, but they are short-lived. Then we retreat into our respective worlds once again. Just wonderful, Cat!
Thank you K, I really know what you mean. There is a lot of that kind of contrived 'feel good' stuff going on, but the waters are not deep. For many, that is enough. I personally find the lack of depth to be quite painful, but I have learned that part of that is my own need to take that depth into tomorrow, rather than appreciating it in the now for what it is. Nothing is permanent, now matter how much it meant in the moment. This is a very difficult concept for an idealist to grasp. I still struggle with it and probably always will.
This poem feels like a cut. A wound. I'm sorry if you've been hurt recently.
The struggle for me is knowing when those retreating, but watchful, eyes are true or only appear that way through the warping lens of my darker perceptions. In my brighter moments, I realize than whenever we reach out, we are doing good, and what we receive in return is pure. When we're stung by absence or loss, that's more about our own convoluted needs, and less about the value of what we were actually given and have to keep.
Jason, I continue to be floored by your perceptive abilities. Of course, you do have a tad more info than just this poem for data to assimilate and transmogrify into such a perceptive statement. However, I had wanted to put this piece of art up soon after the last piece so the connection could be made between the reality of the first one, and the illusion of the second one. That is what I was trying to purvey with the poem as well. Although perhaps a certain recent sting did influence the words just a tiny bit. :-) I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments, and thank you once again for your keen ability to see beyond the obvious.
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