Tuesday, December 2, 2008

What once shimmered golden above us




What once shivered greenly above us,
the leaves on our beautiful tree,
let them fall where they may,
on the grass lush and green,
or on the sidewalk to be trampled
by oblivious shoes
but do not hold a rake or broom,
resist the urge to pile,
collect,
trash, or burn
what once shimmered orange red above us
as wind whispered incoherently,
as wind whispered things that cannot be translated
rustling when the leaves were still barely clinging
over grass kept lush, green, short
since no one wants weeds or the many things
that can hide in a lawn
let them fall, let them lie
and some will fall on the sidewalk
where anyone steps, with oblivious feet
the rest land on the grass
kept green, kept short
(since no one one wants weeds or the many things that can hide in a lawn)
a soft place to land, so resist the desire
do not get the rake out to pile
to collect
to toss or burn
what once shivered golden above us

-12/02/08



4 comments:

vic-a-la said...

beautiful. i like it a lot. but, shimmered or shivered? or supposed to be both? i like shivered cuz they do wiggle and they are cold, after all!

Michelle said...

Both, Vic. I did that on purpose. Very astute of you. I did everything on purpose. Ask any other questions you have! Other people just say "I don't get it."

Michelle said...

btw, it's symbolic.

Brian said...

To me this poem brought to mind, how when we're young, we're new and undamaged, but over time, lifes circumstances slowly fragment pieces of who we are, until at some point we no longer fit the mold that society has seen fit to try and place us in (the manicured lawn). But it's okay to be who we are, because people of depth, intelligence, and compassion will accept us for who we are, and those who don't, can rake leaves (metiphor for take a flying leap?).

I already read "I always mean more than just what I say", so I know your take on it, when you wrote it was something completely different. I like that you recognize that peoples perceptions will be colored by their life experiences and sometimes even just whatever happened to them right before they read one of your poems, blogs, etc. You are an amazing writer with the depth of an ocean.