Love’s Capacity
The November sunrise
strokes a strip of frozen grass
as the rest of the ground
waits her turn.
A newspaper, folded &
cold
meets the hand of
one of my
neighbors who lifts the
world
from his front step &
retreats to his
home.
What is the ability of
the grass
to adore the
sun's warming
fingers?
Does the newspaper admire the
man
for rescuing him?
What is the capacity of
my neighbor
to love the woman who waits
for him by
the kitchen window,
peaking out at me over
the rim of
her teacup, steam curling across
her eyes?
Where is the heart of the
nurse
who steps across this morning’s
threshold
into the room of
suffering?
-
Your November poem creates vivid images on several levels, swirls ordinary into extraordinary, your questions stir me awake; thaws my sleeping heart.
Posted by: ~liz Wessel | November 06, 2009 at 09:34 AM
Ability plus capacity equals heart.
Posted by: Gay Lindsey | November 06, 2009 at 01:21 PM
Erie, a beautiful and unique poem to begin a hopefully sunny and peaceful weekend.
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1369037609 | November 06, 2009 at 03:57 PM
Thank you Erie, your poem is beautiful and thought provoking.
Posted by: Kelly Roberts | November 06, 2009 at 04:53 PM
Wow! I absolutely loved this poem. Like some of the others mentioned this posting definitely started the wheels a turning in my brain. My favorite part was where it described the neighbor lifting the world from his front step.
I would love to see a breakdown of the deeper explanation of every line in the poem.
Thank you
Posted by: Marianna | November 06, 2009 at 08:04 PM
Thanks to each of you for your very kind comments. Someone once asked the poet Pablo Neruda to say what he meant in one of his poems. He answered something like, "I can't say anymore than what I've already said in the poem."
A frustrating answer, perhaps. But, maybe it's a bit like asking a caregiver to explain how it FEELS to be present at the death of a patient. The heart knows more than the mind. The mind can never quite tell the heart's story.
Posted by: erie chapman | November 06, 2009 at 10:03 PM
I think that our capacity to love stems from our ability to forgive. Of late, when I look into someone's eyes but find a distance that hinders, I say to myself, "I forgive you. I forgive me" and I feel a softening.
Posted by: ~liz Wessel | November 08, 2009 at 08:48 PM