What Should Stay Buried
Time caught in a capsule. Sorrow there
or joy as you imagine opening it up?
Perhaps, better, if you put it back. To not know
what was left behind.
a man and woman so young then. Babies
not yet born. The woman not yet asleep in another man’s bed. Pearl
as they called it not yet bombed. Beirut, when it was
the Paris of the Middle East. The young ones, brown-skinned, before
the top hats and whale-bone dresses before
the burials, before the bulldozers broke what marked
the graves.
Before the churches burned, before Christ turned his back,
before anger’s black smoke
tore down everything and ripped words
from cindered throats.
Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.Before.
Stunning. Simply stunning. This mosaic of lives trapped in the moment before time moved on. Before destruction. Loss. Betrayal. Death. Better not opened – but collapsing into a dark galaxy of experiences when we see ‘what was left behind.’ I’m gobsmacked. Stunning. I’ll say it again – because this poem is exactly that.
Thank you Anne. I am grateful for this poem and your response!
This is an absolutely amazing piece of work!
Thanks Danielle: Not a hallmark card poem which was the point. I am grateful for it. Helped with my dealing with the legacy of residential schools here in Canada.
Wow! Amazing poem.
Thanks jacob. And thank you and Caitlin for making this happen. No “this poem” without you both. Love the half-marathon! Love it.
This makes me cry. Before I die, I want to create a poem as awesome yet heartbreaking as this.
Thank you Sandra. I am grateful to you. I tend to write my poems and often let them go. Comments like yours will help me hold on! ANd keep it!
So much contained with such little space – like a time capsule itself. A powerhouse of a poem. Incredible that you produced it like this in such short time. Kudos and gratitude.
Oh Sarah W! Thank you. Thank you! Isn’t amazing that strong poems can come in a short time! Blessings on you and your writing.
Incredible. Kudos, Richard.
Thanks Mark. All your comments here are helping me appreciate my poem in ways I hadn’t before!
This poem really packs the punch we sometimes need. Thank you for sharing it with us.
This really packs a punch!
Thanks so much Julie Ann
Wow… Powerful poem with punch after punch. So well constructed and moving. And as Anne McAlister has said twice, Stunning, Stunning….
Thanks for bringing me back to this page and the poem Wendie. Had already let its impact fade! Yikes. And you in precambrian shield country! I hope I make it back before I leave the planet.
Apologies to Anne McMaster for the name slip up!
And if you get back here, please get in touch. I’m easy to find on the internet…Heron’s Nest Studio Gallery…and you know where!