A Sounding
A Sounding
Hello darkness, not my friend,
you’ve come to play with me again.
You don’t bother with soft creeping;
you just shake me like a doll sleeping
with eyelids pushed down and up at your command
beneath your hand.
Oh, darkness, you confound
my balance.
Hello darkness, not my friend,
somehow we’ll make it to the end.
You’ll keep pushing, but I’ll pull through.
My eyes will not be blanked by you,
nor will my sky be ground down
into dust, or if it must,
I’ll be its sister
granule;
I’ll be its sister
granule.
********************************
This is very much a draft poem a not 55 words but, nonetheless, I am positing it for Kerry O’Connor’s 55 word prompt on With Real Toads, which was also asked one to use the words of a sad song as an inspiration. Mine, The Sounds of Silence, by Paul Simon. Pic is by me or a Buddhist painting in Ladakh, India. All rights reserved.
Explore posts in the same categories: poetry, UncategorizedTags: depression poem, http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com, manicddaily, not Flash 55 poem, sounds of silence poem
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June 5, 2016 at 12:40 am
The Sounds of Silence must be the most haunting song ever written. Your interpretative link to depression makes me think of the lyrics on a whole new level.
June 5, 2016 at 8:12 am
Thanks, Kerry. It is very much a favorite song of mine. The link I used was Simon singing it at the 9/11 memorial. A beautiful rendition, but I didn’t want to put the video up top for fear that people would think that the poem was somehow about that. k.
June 5, 2016 at 1:12 am
Oh well you use the words from sound of silence.. Love how you projected the lyrics to depression.
June 5, 2016 at 5:59 am
I love this – very much.
June 5, 2016 at 8:13 am
Ha. Thanks. k.
June 5, 2016 at 6:28 am
So this takes such a well known song — and yes, one of the saddest — reframes its leading line but keeps the rhythm perfectly: a singing along in one’s own words, which are also in league with the song but much more personal, in the sense of how isolating depression is, how close it chums us with death. Not quite its dust but a “sister granule” oh my, oh yes. Great stuff.
June 5, 2016 at 8:11 am
Ha. Thank you, Brendan. I really did try to match Simon’s rhythm and intonation and did sing in my head, but it was hard to know whether that would come across on the page, so glad you saw it. (Though I know you are a very perceptive reader.) Thanks. k.
June 5, 2016 at 7:14 am
The darkness that shadows life, always drawing things sharper, both defining and disguising, making it harder to see what’s really there, or just making one doubt one’s ability to do so–really perceptive and human writing, k.
June 5, 2016 at 8:10 am
Thank you, Joy. k.
June 5, 2016 at 7:33 am
This is genius
June 5, 2016 at 8:09 am
Ha. Thanks, Debi. k.
June 5, 2016 at 9:10 am
Nice, luv this feisty persona.
Much love…
June 5, 2016 at 10:33 am
This is SO cool!
June 5, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Love the rhythm and the challenge. Darkness doesn’t stand a chance.
June 5, 2016 at 5:37 pm
I love the way you repeat your closing statement. Powerful Karen. 🙂
June 5, 2016 at 6:35 pm
Word count becomes irrelevant when something is working as well as this already is. Wonderful skeleton, too!
June 5, 2016 at 6:50 pm
I love that song, and you’ve made it even darker and more insidious.
June 6, 2016 at 8:51 am
Ah, to be honest I find I can’t get any distance from the song to appreciate this one as I’d like to. But those last phrases are very touching, “sister granule.” What a cool word, granule.
June 7, 2016 at 12:26 pm
This anaology for depression has all the feel of a gothic horror story, with hope for a happy ending instead of the twist at the end.
June 8, 2016 at 4:12 pm
I would love to hear someone singing YOUR version. That is how much I like it. 🙂
Greetings from London.