Ode to Finitude
Limit, you goddess, daughter of
Form, overcome me, overtake me
again with sweet extremity!
Rope me to the glory of your
monstrous bones, rigging
for the dancing world--
I will dance, my feet hard and rolling
because I have feet; I will
slap my hands to your gusty
rhythm, because I have hands; I will sing
from a quivering throat, vibration
mother of voice, because
I have voice--I will praise you, my
maligned divinity, my shapely
sublime, Limit, I will run
my tongue along your edges,
I will kiss your every limb,
for I have tongue, lips and limbs,
my own sweet utter skin, I have
a wide pale body with which to
billow before Spirit, grandmother
Mind, old Ever-Present, too ancient for
dust. I have known her, too,
dreaming, she is soft and fat with the dark
openness of space--but you! Limit,
my lovely, my little boat,
we will skip, we will go sailing
quick and bright
over the long silent waters of the Real.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ode to Finitude
What follows is a poem I wrote just after completing the first draft of my previous post, which I hadn't been at all satisfied with. The title of the piece is rather self-explanatory. I hope you enjoy, and that you've been taking full and joyful advantage of April as National Poetry Month!
about:
aesthetics,
beauty,
creativity,
diversity,
language,
love,
poetry,
prayer,
writing
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Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alice. :)
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful Ali!
ReplyDeleteI wrote a post a few years back (on a blog long ago and far far away) about the importance of finitude. Your poem explores the profundity much better than my post did. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(let's try that without the poor spelling this time)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Usually I don't leave such succinct comments, but I wasn't sure what else to say about it. Perhaps I should have left the best compliment a poet can give another: 'I wish I wrote this.' AND 'I remembered it and came back to look twice.' Good luck with your work.