Questioning The Idea of Heaven
Questioning the Idea of Heaven
Can it be true
that I’ll not see you
again?
That all will never be
as it always should
have been?
Will we not laugh
at trivial cruelties, which you
will allow me to call
every single one?
Match memory for memory
like one might measure height
in penciled lines by the side
of a door, the pine jamb varnished yellow
as a child-drawn sun?
We did have the door,
the pine,
the sun–
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A poem of sorts for Margaret Bednar’s prompt Artistic Interpretations on With Real Toads to make a poem using an image by Toril Fisher, this one called California Poppy Glow. Margaret has many lovely pictures of Toril’s work on the Real Toads website–the color in these flowers oddly made me think of sun. (I may post another one re garlic–but haven’t quite done that one yet.)
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Tags: grief poem, http://withrealtoads.blogspot, is this all there is poem, manicddaily, Questioning the Idea of Heaven poem, Toril Fischer painting
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ManicDDaily 
March 6, 2015 at 7:27 pm
what a drab afterlife it would be…with no heaven…
i am envisioning a tavern…and a table by the fireplace
to share stories…
March 6, 2015 at 7:28 pm
Yes, well, that sounds nice; I’m not sure we can make what we would like, however! k .
On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 7:27 PM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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March 6, 2015 at 8:08 pm
Heaven is ended, out the door into the sun? Guess I’m one of the lucky ones, 42 years of Heaven. That doesn’t count thirteen years of Hell. [ You wouldn’t need to add 🙂 ]
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March 6, 2015 at 8:33 pm
I love that 4th stanza. And the final, too.
March 6, 2015 at 8:42 pm
“Can it be true that I’ll not see you again?” Unbearable thought.
March 6, 2015 at 8:57 pm
You leave me sad, thinking of my brothers and sisters–not that I have the latter–but I see us measuring ourselves as we grow up and suddenly having to imagine life without them … heaven on earth–the door, the pine, the sun. Kingdom of God on earth could be in a good marriage, a great experiement in living. As each ends, these lines apply. Thank you..
March 6, 2015 at 8:58 pm
It is sad. Thank you, Susan. k.
March 6, 2015 at 9:01 pm
I couldn’t think of a more positive end–but maybe that a problem with the poem–I don’t know–thanks, Susan. k.
March 6, 2015 at 9:13 pm
Wow, K! This is just gorgeous!
March 7, 2015 at 1:21 am
as one of my favorite lines goes, by David Byrne: heaven, heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens… ~
March 7, 2015 at 2:17 am
That concept of measure the memories when we meet again.. What a concept of heaven.. Really make me wonder if it’s a place to long for.
March 7, 2015 at 4:22 am
Regret at the passing of a relationship is a theme I often use in my poems, and your approach to that idea really strikes a chord in me. I think of the beauty of California poppies in bloom, and how they last for such a short time. .. leaving us to ponder on what we did have, once. I find this theme to be very affecting since it taps into the human condition.
March 7, 2015 at 11:24 am
Of course I love this! Yellow pine, and heaven is exquisite. Of course I love questioning heaven. Great write
March 7, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Love how you incorporated the door jamb measuring height…such a common shared tradition (at least in North America)….much like the philosophical questioning of heaven is….great parallels to the universal here. Brilliant.
March 7, 2015 at 1:34 pm
A light sad wind in this, that brushes back hair on a tear-stained face. Yet perhaps without a heaven, we might makes things ‘as they always should have been’ here? I love this particular painting, but only had a very dismal poem about the 17th century Tulip Mania and shrouds to put with it, so may not get to it. ;_)
March 7, 2015 at 9:32 pm
This expresses the feelings of the unreality of grief to me. So beautifully written.
March 7, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Thanks, Lola. K.
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March 8, 2015 at 8:11 am
I like the child-drawn sun.