Sunday, February 16, 2014

hearts

Valentine's day. Don't need it if you have gone far enough...




image by dsnake1




hearts
   1993



whose heart beats harder?
your drug spiked one
or mine's brimming with pain?

your hair has fallen in clumps
your cheeks have sunken, pale.
yet you have strength for a smile.

outside the ward windows
two sparrows fly by, chirping.
oh, how we long to be free too.



13/02/2014
**********


Update July 2021 : I submitted this poem for an anthology of poetry about palliative care (open to 26 Asia Pacific countries and territories, in 15 languages). This poem was selected and published in print in to let the light in : an anthology of life and death, 2021.






"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar



Shared on Poetry pantry #189 at Poets United.





© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2014

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19 Comments:

Blogger Natašek said...

"yet you have strength for a smile" - brings out some brightness while in a hospital... it describes that feeling well.

17 February, 2014 00:23  
Blogger madhumakhi said...

Short, crisp and intense. Love is the most effective panacea for one in pain.

17 February, 2014 01:17  
Blogger anthonynorth said...

Enjoyed this - especially the last line.

17 February, 2014 01:20  
Blogger Brian Miller said...

ouch. def a darkness...the feeling of being trapped....when that is in love, you have to wonder if it really is or if we are just putting on a show...

17 February, 2014 01:36  
Blogger ZQ said...

Wonderful Piece. ***** :-)(five stars and a smiley sticker)
ZQ

17 February, 2014 01:54  
Blogger Sumana Roy said...

Strength of forbearance, love and freedom depicted wonderfully...

17 February, 2014 01:54  
Blogger Mary said...

Ah, as long as hearts beat, I think, they yearn to be free! (Despite the pain.)

17 February, 2014 02:18  
Blogger Audrey Howitt aka Divalounger said...

This made my heart beat a little harder--love in its most enduring form

17 February, 2014 02:56  
Blogger kelvin s.m. said...

I can tell the melancholy here rooted from a long time ago. It's too easy to listen to the song that plays here but to understand the pain in it is quite too hard to measure. Excellent!

17 February, 2014 22:05  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

Natasa,

hospitals are dreary places for most. i wanted to show that there's still hope and light in such places. :)


madhumakhi,

yes, it is. it can lessen the pain.


Anthony,

thank you. :)


Brian,

this poem was about how a person very close to me was dying of cancer. yes, we felt trapped, and unfair that a lousy hand was dealt.


ZQ,

thank you for the smiley sticker and 5 stars. :)


Sumana,

thank you. love can sometimes pull you through a crisis.


Mary,

yes, as long as it beats, the heart yearns to be free. :)


Audrey,

:)

thank you!

17 February, 2014 22:16  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

thank you, kelvin.

yes, it was rooted from a long time ago. somehow, the memories came back (Susan's prompt at PU helps), and i wrote it in one attempt. :)

17 February, 2014 22:45  
Blogger Unknown said...

... strength for a smile... a wondrous line and testament to the voraciousness of a loving heart.

18 February, 2014 00:02  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

thank you, Kim. :)

18 February, 2014 07:11  
Blogger Sherry Blue Sky said...

Oh the pain of two hearts, the suffering one, and the visitor, suffering too for his loved one.....I can see those sparrows! And the wan smile. The human condition, captured perfectly in your poem.

18 February, 2014 07:37  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

thank you, Sherry! the poem works! :)

18 February, 2014 21:25  
Blogger magiceye said...

Beautifully expressed!!

21 February, 2014 09:52  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

hey magiceye, great to see you around. :)

21 February, 2014 22:00  
Blogger Magaly Guerrero said...

For me, this one, reads like looking in the mirror...

26 July, 2021 00:46  
Blogger dsnake1 said...

Magaly, you beat them, you beat what was coming at you, and you beat them well.

26 July, 2021 15:22  

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