Not free, though not for any price,
does sky reach land and land stretch high
through trees and rocks, bamboo and stairs,
creating paths for deer, ostrich,
giraffe, eagles and us who walk,
burrow, maneuver, fly and race
to eat and drink and nest until
it’s time to rest.
The point is fueling spaceship earth
no matter how clichéd it sounds;
she lives inside, a Queen who nests
and needs our love opened to her.
Compared to this exchange, free love
is cheap imitation, fiction
on stage for entertaining those
who haven’t learned
There is no love that’s lost and dead
but blooms in other ways instead—
love stirs deep pools rich with tadpoles
and fish; love kisses open buds and seeds
and fronds and hands and hearts and deeds.
Love acts or brings chilled, stifled breath,
clogged arteries and clustered strife
we offer love or end all life.
For my prompt
Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Open / Openness
and April's poem # 27
Copyright © 2016 Susan L. Chast
We offer love or end all life...so true. Nature shows the way but we seem determined to ignore it and destroy our only home.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that there is no love that is lost and/or dead, but that it somehow transforms and is seen in other ways. And I am struck by the image of earth as Queen needing our love. Indeed she does in a deep way...not a cheap imitation as in free love.
ReplyDeleteHow I adore this poem!!!! Mother Earth nurturing life and the theatre to entertain "those who haven't learned." Wow!!!!!! Love the opening and closing lines of the last stanza, which are powerful, and true.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a beautiful poem... I like the idea of love that never dies, that manifests and transforms.
ReplyDeleteI loved this bit: "Compared to this exchange, free love
is cheap imitation, fiction
on stage for entertaining those
who haven’t learned"
-HA
This poem wraps itself up and unfolds slowly inside the heart--I especially loved the last stanza Susan!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully argued, beautifully written, and I particularly love the last verse.
ReplyDeleteyes, love Is that open space to infuse life into the dead...love the image of our Mother Earth as the Queen...
ReplyDeleteLove that cement or glue that makes life work. What a glorious poem this is.
ReplyDeleteAdorable poem!
ReplyDeleteI love how you built this to its conclusion - it read along like a heart beat - made me thinking also of don't bite the hand that feeds you..i suppose all love is about supporting each other and nourishing what matters - and what a nourishing write this is
ReplyDeleteNo love is never really free...there is a price to pay....but it is worth it!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful....
ReplyDeleteMy favourite lines..
"love kisses open buds and seeds
and fronds and hands and hearts and deeds." Its a question of perception. Nothing else. Delightful read...Susan. :)))
Your thoughts on love are beautiful and so true!
ReplyDeleteHow heartening to know that no love is ever lost! Thanks, especially, for that last stanza, dancing with tadpoles, fish, seeds, buds, and so many other things spawned by love.
ReplyDeleteThere is no love that's lost or dead...
ReplyDeleteIf disappointment stops loving then that is truly sad.
So I am interpreting this poem as just keep on loving anyway because it it better than having clogged arteries:)
A beautiful love song for a wounded planet. Unless we heal with love, we too shall die of self-inflicted wounds.
ReplyDelete