14 2017 Golden Shovel form from Tracy Plath’s poem Morpheus hour 5 2017 marathon.
Morpheus extended.
By Paul Robert Sanford
I stripped away my outer layers
until I lay naked in the sun,
a yearning Ophelia, unable to complete
my wish for oblivion deeper than sleep,
instead allowing a silence
that was not silent
to fill and heal
an aching teen’s troubled soul.
From Morpheus by Tracy Plath (Used by permission)
Let us go, you and I
our schedule stripped,
stealing a chance to get away.
It has been so long since my
feet carried me into the outer
world. This is the chance to cast away layers
of languid torpor until
you in your modest way and I
singing a free song, a lay,
strip our beings naked.
This is the world we live in.
like moles we have hidden from the
life giving rays of the sun.
No wonder there has been a
dissatisfaction, a yearning.
Like Ophelia
we are unable
to imagine a world to
make us complete
but now, having broken my
bonds and fulfilling my wish
to enjoy the world in a deeper
way. What more do we need than
food and friends and drink and sleep.
Let us celebrate life instead,
seeking out joy and allowing
hope to give us a
burst of energy that will silence
not only the voices that
we hear, but transport us to a state that was
ours when our birth had not
taken place and all was silent
except for the music of our mother’s heartbeat that served to
calm us, and fill
us with the rhythm of life, and
the sounds of voices, music to heal
us and prepare us for the harshness of reality, an
experience called birth that leaves us aching
for the safety of the womb, until eventually a teen’s
imagination tells us only we are troubled,
only we have a soul.
So far, this is my favorite of your pieces. Tracy will be delighted.
It is gentle and delicate and lovely.
“eventually a teen’s
imagination tells us only we are troubled,
only we have a soul.” This line took my breath away!
So beautiful!
I enjoyed reading this. I liked the creative evolution of the piece, the liquid language that easily carried me through from beginning to end. Yes, sometimes we are indeed too nestled into ourselves, to appreciate and be a part of the world. A world which, despite its negatives is also blessed with an abundance of positive energy.
Hi Paul, I think this one is very strong. Ambitious! That’s a long golden shovel! 🙂 Two small suggestions. At the end of the first verse, I don’t understand the part where you say, “…a lay,” Maybe there’s a tiny tweak to make there to clarify. Finally, the last line “only we have a soul”. To me there is a logic flaw between “only we are troubled” and “only we have a soul.” I think what you did is amazing and beautiful, though, overall. I’d recommend that you submit this one! 🙂
A lay is an ancient term for a romantic song.
Yes, the logic becomes twisted toward the end as I struggle to work with Tracy’s powerful language. Some day when I have more time to do it gently I will correct that. Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. I was truly inspired by Tracy’s work.