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For once, this is not a nature poem. Rather, it is, but it is about human nature not my fields and flowers. More specifically, it is about my child who has spent most of this past year in an Asian country. I wonder if you will hear, when you read it, all of my love for and pride in my daughter, and the deep sweet ache of letting go. I wrote it shortly after she left last summer.
Worlds Away
My child has flown half-a-world away…
to breathe the air in tomorrow’s city
‘neath the shadow of yesterday’s skies,
to speak in words the ancients spoke,
and to see through Dragon’s eyes.
to breathe the air in tomorrow’s city
‘neath the shadow of yesterday’s skies,
to speak in words the ancients spoke,
and to see through Dragon’s eyes.
She has flown half-a-world away…
to taste the sweet and unfamiliar,
to feel the rain from other skies,
to live each day before I wake,
and to dream through Dragon’s eyes.
Will they know, when they see her -
pale white skin and hazel eyes -
that her heart is like the Dragon;
bold and joyful when she flies?
She has flown half-a-world away
but she’ll come back one summer day,
and will I find my child still child-like,
or will everything about her say
that, though she’s home, her swift-winged soul
is poised for flight and worlds-away?
~ Aisling (Senryu's Mama), August 24, 2006
photo by Haiku, 5/25/07
6 comments:
Oh Aisling, what a beautiful poem. And to answer your question, no, I did not hear your love and pride. I instead felt it, deeply and sincerely as if she were my own. Thank you for sharing that very personal part of you.
Robbin, What a nice response to my poem. Thank you for taking the time to let me know how you responded to reading it.
This is really difficult to explain how I feel after reading your poem. I can tell you how my heart aches when my son leaves home for awhile but at the same time I know and want him to experience things on his own. The word that comes to me is "bittersweet." Also, I've read your poem many times today and have enjoyed the pictures you have drawn, "to breath the air in tomorrow's city," "to speak in words the ancients spoke." There are so many phrases I like--I'd be retyping the whole poem if I cited all the ones I like!
Catherine Mary, Thank you for taking the time to respond to my poem. My daughter has been in Taiwan, which provided poetry imagery readily, as it sits in China's shadow, and yet with a modern vital energy all its own. Thank you again for commenting!
Achingly beautiful, dear friend. When does your girl come home again?
Nan, Yesterday! *grin* We picked her up at an airport in a city several hours away from home, and stayed the night. We are just getting in the door, be you can be sure that I will be writing about her homecoming soon. :)
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