Saturday, August 9, 2008

stairways

the blind solitude of the night
the 'stairway to heaven' fades out #
your whispers arrive in ripples
talk of the sun's drizzling gold
the fluid silver of moonshine
azure joys where the souls sail free
the green of life on lithe branches
my mystical lotus eater
for less than a moment hear me
there's a world of persephone
of penia and hades and plutus
each day descend thirty thousand
the children WHO* die of hunger
who could not ascend the stairways
to a distant planet called earth

the hieroglyphs of poverty
the flowers that do not blossom

my mind,save a whisper for them..

/zg/original..
[*world health organization
#Led Zeppelin]

23 comments:

  1. Powerful and succinct. Wonderful take on the prompt. Well done Zoya!

    www.mypoeticpath.wordpress.com

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  2. Hi Zoya, this had to be. We hate it but it seems to be working this way. I turned my car radio low as I passed a homeless couple crossing on the other side's pedistrian lane. Each had a small rounded and not looking heavy plastic bag.
    ..

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  3. A very moving poem! And yet, in the colours drifting through, I feel a rainbow of hope slowly, very slowly forming.

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  4. An excellent poem.

    I love the line
    the green of life on lithe branches
    but do wonder if "azure blues" isn't tautological.

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  5. "do wonder if "azure blues" isn't tautological"_u read my mind when u say this mandy.i've tried a replacement.(somehow thanks is less than appropriate)..

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  6. "Save a whisper for them" brings this wonderful poem to a very strong end--though the story certainly doesn't.

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  7. The level plain without the option to climb does not offer new horizons easily.

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  8. "Save a whisper for them" is the bare minimum; we should all offer a shout as long as there is poverty and hunger. Not a single child should ever be hungry in a world of so much gluttony. Well done.

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  9. Yes, moving is the word for this: the subject, the progession, the rhythm and music it makes in the head reading it. And the meaning.

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  10. Very very nice. A whisper is sometimes all we allow ourselves to hear when it comes to the hungry.

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  11. i was so drawn to the lines about whispers...'your whisper arrives in ripples' & 'save a whisper for them'...both speak to me of such quiet longning...beautiful & sad together

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  12. You are such a master of words that evoke deep emotions. Beautifully written.

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  13. Wonderful use of the prompt! Maybe enough small whispers will turn into one big voice.

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  14. a mystical beauty speaking in whispers...theres nothing as heartbreaking as a hungry child who dies hopelessly... i cannot help but to think of sudan and the sudanese man who carried the american flag at the olympics... only that he survived giving hope to flowers that do not blossom... thank you...

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  15. Wonderful lines starting: your whispers arrive in ripples. That pulled me in. Great job.

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  16. Hi Zoya, thank you for this poem. Like the others have said, it is a touching and moving work.
    For me it brought sad memories of my childhood dog, Von. One day, unbeknownst to me, Von "could not ascend" the coral gate. He died there in the coral while I hurried merrily home to supper.
    Thank you for reading my little poem, this was something I had to do.
    ..

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  17. I found myself thinking as Greyscale Territory did: that there is a rainbow promising relief. I hoep that it is so.

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  18. What a journey into color and then darkness you have taken us on. I'm chilled.

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  19. Powerfully moving poem … interesting ‘take’ on this week’s theme!
    Hugs and blessings,

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  20. I took the moment to hear. So easy to get caught up in comfort. Great work.

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  21. How very powerful and moving but I cannot bare to think of one lost child not find the stairway to heaven in what ever form our creator has given them. How could we find our way hearing the cries of one lost soul??
    Love your site and work.

    love-Melanie-bd

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  22. ..Ur comments are so full of thought.
    Extremely Thankful To Each One Of U..

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..namastey!~