Even Years Later
Even Years Later
In the lavender scent
of the cedar,
I find her,
I pine for her.
Just there
in the drawer’s corner,
just there
in the kerchief’s corner,
in the paled wood
of those right angles–the rubbed warmth
of her inner wrists,
and in the linen worn translucent as a ghost–
the dab behind the lace
of those white curls, lengthening
earlobes (their surprisingly
soft skin)–
There are so many kinds
of temples-
my head in her lap,
the blue of darkening windows,
the purple
of far fields.
*********************
Here’s a very very drafty instinctive sort of poem for Hannah’s prompt on With Real Toads to write of lavender. I am also posting this to dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night. I am still away from home, and since I like to use my own artwork, am having to go with whatever pictures I have on my computer–I think this one is actually of lilac, but I’’ll pretend it’s lavender, if you will!
Explore posts in the same categories: iPad art, poetryTags: Even Years Later, how scent is held, manicddaily, One doesn't actually need madeleines to feel like Proust, the scent of lavender speaks to me of old, think grandmothers poem
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ManicDDaily 
January 30, 2015 at 2:12 am
Oh, this makes me yearn for my Grandmother, who was a shelter if not a temle. Powerfully evocative.
January 30, 2015 at 7:09 am
This speaks of such specific longing and the sacred space of love and being loved. Thank you for this…
January 30, 2015 at 7:44 am
Thanks, Mary. k.
January 30, 2015 at 9:18 am
This is just beautiful, k–a sense of love and warmth wrapped in memories of the softest lavender, of that perfect peace and sense of belonging we can know as children and seem to lose as we age. A gift of a poem.
January 30, 2015 at 9:21 am
Thanks. It was really a gift. A glimmer came during my conference and then after I’d decided to go to bed, I just sat up instead and wrote it out–some re-writing–don’t know if I improved what I originally scribbled, but it did come pretty quickly. You never know if those kinds of things are good at all–when they come so quirkily–but glad you liked it. k .
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 9:18 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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January 30, 2015 at 9:26 am
Had the courage to go back to it after your comment–though it’s one of those that I sort of memorize as I write, though I mucked around a bit with the transition between last two stanzas–now have taken out the “but” which seemed somehow to smooth it last night, but I think was just part of normal hyper-apologetic tone. Thanks again. k.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 9:18 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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January 31, 2015 at 3:53 pm
It reads beautifully now, k–but then I thought so the first time, too. ;_) This is really one of my very favorites of yours.
February 1, 2015 at 8:55 am
Thanks. K.
January 30, 2015 at 10:07 am
The gentle description of that old lady (mother, grandmother) with those smell of lavender makes me think of my grandmother too… wonderful writing.
January 30, 2015 at 10:53 am
I could smell the lavender! 🙂 Beautiful poem. Thanks.
Greetings from London.
January 30, 2015 at 12:46 pm
This takes me back so wonderfully….my grandmother, the scent of lilac and sweet pea….. lavender sachets in all the drawers…….
January 30, 2015 at 1:11 pm
so very comforting…
January 30, 2015 at 2:18 pm
This made me cry. Beautiful, K.
January 30, 2015 at 2:22 pm
Thanks, MZ. k.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 2:18 PM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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January 30, 2015 at 2:41 pm
Terrific job with this prompt. Love the lavender lady-that second stanza is magic
January 30, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Memories connected to scent… some of the most precious. I love the way you guide us to this one.
January 30, 2015 at 6:59 pm
The beauty of this poem suits the gorgeousness, but also the delicacy of lavender.
January 30, 2015 at 9:37 pm
Thanks, Mark, for this very poetic comment. k.
January 30, 2015 at 8:08 pm
there are so many kind of temples…that opened this poem up for me all the more…and the feel and memories there in the back of the drawer….smiles.
January 30, 2015 at 8:16 pm
This is so evocative…I love how you bring in the cedar and pine, too…so many vivid snippets of imagery…thank you for joining, K!
January 30, 2015 at 9:44 pm
Thanks, Hannah. And thanks for great prompt.
January 31, 2015 at 2:46 pm
You’re so welcome! 🙂
January 31, 2015 at 5:32 am
I love how you go after memory chasing the scent further back into the cedar drawer–“pining” as a way of mining and scent the evocative spade, bringing forth such fine nuggets. “Temple” also used so wonderfully in the plural sense, a child’s temple, the temple of memory, and the greater/est temple of those fields of lavender, so alive and full still of adoration. Wonderful.
February 1, 2015 at 8:56 am
Yes, thanks, Brendan. I am glad that you saw that. K.
January 31, 2015 at 7:42 am
i love the idea of finding someone in a specific scent… i think scents are much more often connected to specific people or moments than we realize
January 31, 2015 at 1:40 pm
As an ‘instinctive poem’, this speaks directly to my heart, and I remember the women, mother and grandmother, who were so identifiable by their scent. It brings me to tears.
January 31, 2015 at 5:17 pm
So beautiful. I too think of those I love and are now gone. There are times I sit with my box of memories, hold items in my hands, and go back to moments tugging my heart through the mist.
January 31, 2015 at 5:49 pm
The cedar and lavender are both such powerful scents (they competed a bit in my mind) but love the sweetly scented memories of this “instinctive” poem…sometimes those are the best!
February 1, 2015 at 8:52 am
I could only smile through this. Great poem!
February 1, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Reminds me of my mom, Karen. 19 yrs since she passed away.
Beautifully written.
February 1, 2015 at 1:18 pm
How lovely. Scent is one of the strongest reminders of the people, the places in our lives. It preserves the warmth and the love, and all of those memories.
February 1, 2015 at 1:45 pm
This reminds me of my grandmother K, she was such a lady with lace & perfume ~ Love this part:
There are so many kinds
of temples-
February 1, 2015 at 2:50 pm
I love how the sense of smell evokes so many memories, and for me, lavender is one of the most powerful. When I worked hospice, the CNA’s used lavender essential oils in patient’s bathwater to help relax/comfort them. About a mile from my home in Reno there is a farm called Lavender Ridge–wonderful.
February 4, 2015 at 3:01 am
so evocative ~