Here is a poem about agreements, about the inner life of agreements. The scene in the poem is made up. In a way, however, my marriage ended like this. It ended in agreement. A lawyer was needed to cross tees and dot eyes. The lawyer was retained by my wife, not by me. I looked into getting my own, was advised to get one. I had a meeting with one and on the basis of that meeting, I decided to risk not retaining a lawyer. My wife told me at one point that she had to argue with her lawyer because the lawyer wanted to get more from me. Ann knew what was right already, and so it went, just as we agreed.
This marriage began and ended in agreement.
To An Old Love
You crossed my mind on
yet another of your walks,
the ones that lead you
further from my path
as you go your own sure way.
I remember this:
crystals, sun catchers,
the seven you insisted
were yours. You would take
these, you said, just these.
I agreed though my heart broke.
I watched as you left.
Now I weave old souls.
In the warp and weft of things
They shine, inner light.
April 8, 2009 7:50 AM
Contraction
1 week ago
This is a beautiful and sad poem. I really love the ending.
ReplyDeleteThis made me sad, the surety of her walks, ever further. Watching it go, in pieces. You do weave old souls Chris, in beautiful words.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteI think this: "This marriage began and ended in agreement." sums up so much of the tone of things, and describes who you both are. (Admirable.) There are so many lines that sing in the poem, though I am positively charmed by the notion of walking across someone's mind. All the images here glisten, and for a poem of this subject matter, nostalgic and sad as it may be, it's beyond the best most could hope for.
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks, Joseph. Specificity is the thing. You have to be specific but not inaccessible. To work, a poem like this has to belong to the reader. Otherwise it is either too personal or too sappy.
ReplyDeleteI love this. Even in endings, in the sad parts, there is so much beauty and humanness.
ReplyDelete