she’s a girl, she was nine, on a lone silent street, where the sea and the desert sands mingle and meet. up ahead the waves break to a foaming white hiss, while welwitschia’s stretch and the desert sands kiss.
and she watches the fog sinking down in a veil, while the strange scent of sea salt her senses assail. she is cloaked in a shroud of cold dampened sound, amongst buildings deserted, all the doorways closed down.
isolated, alone, she is standing dead still, small and unnoticed under seagulls cries shrill. the memories swoop down as i knew her back then, a stranger ‘mongst friends, out of sight and unseen.
and she watches the fog sinking down in a veil, while the strange scent of sea salt her senses assail. she is cloaked in a shroud of cold dampened sound, amongst buildings deserted, all the doorways closed down.
isolated, alone, she is standing dead still, small and unnoticed under seagulls cries shrill. the memories swoop down as i knew her back then, a stranger ‘mongst friends, out of sight and unseen.
such a magical scenario and place, hauntingly beautiful
ReplyDeleteThat felt nice. I read it several times. Nine years old, can hardly remember...
ReplyDeleteSecretia
A lost memory, but now found. Wonderful images.
ReplyDeleteLovely Shadow. Words are your gift.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your words. ♥
What a vivid, VIVID painting your colored with your work today Shadow! I was there, smelling the salt air, watching the girl of nine from a distance....it was almost a flashback of youth for me. FANtastic!!!
ReplyDeletei love this... it creates such amazing imagery!
ReplyDeletexx
I was imagining myself there, at the age of nine... the sea and the sand. Awesome, Shadow!
ReplyDeleteOut of sight and unseen. Many a time in my life. Nine years old seems to be the magic number for many. Thank you Shadow. Much hugs to you dear....♥
ReplyDeleteWEIRD , SHE IS A GIRL , I WAS A BOY . THE SCENARIO IS A LITTLE BIT DIFERENT ( RAIN FOREST INSTEAD OF A DESERT .
ReplyDeleteBUT THE REST IS PRETTY MUCH IDENTICAL . EVEN SO .... THE WAY YOU WROTE WAS SPECIAL .
I think we can all identify with this. Although the times and places may be different, we all, once upon a time, experienced something similar. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteNevine
Such a potent sense of place. Very well woven.
ReplyDeleteI've felt like that.
But where is the sea???
ReplyDeleteOh Shad!that picture is so desolating (can you say that?)
Lovely lovely and so isolated...
Being small and hurt, living in fear and pain quietly is the surest cloak of invisibility I have ever known.
ReplyDeleteOh that a child knew truly how to rage upon the sea and send the waves crashing back upon them who would assault that ocean depth.
I find very few words after all that was told here. I can imagine a lonely child, the fear and the sorrow she feels. So many ones live like this nowadays...
ReplyDeleteThe thing Shadow is that you create such wonderful visions for us that linger with us. Thankyou.
ReplyDeleteIt's brilliance like this is why you have 408 followers...
ReplyDelete408?????
Sad and haunting. Lovely work, Shadow!
ReplyDeleteTouching
ReplyDeleteEerie scene, seen through a little girl's eyes, in remembrance of that child.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the comments, this is haunting...
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine poem about a sad memory. I was on the beach here in California once, looking down for shells and such, when I looked up and I was all alone. No one in sight, north or south. I thought for a moment the Rapture had come and Jesus had chosen to leave me behind. I scampered up the sandy hill to the carpark, and never was I so glad to see my family!
ReplyDeleteLonely and sad maybe a ghost looking for….
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful
getting to know this stranger is a wonderful thing!
ReplyDeleteI miss you if I miss your blog, how do you do that?
ReplyDeleteThanks, keep writing, great rhyme.
I need another word for immutable,instead one that says unable to see and look directly at....
wonderful imagery..but i read it as she was terribly lonely, there but not...
ReplyDeleteVery evocative!
ReplyDeleteOh age nine ... barely can fathom it, but this just brought me back to a dear memory of mine at the sea!
ReplyDeletemuch gratitude!
gabi xo
Loved the way you mixed all of the senses.
ReplyDeleteWonderful imagery. The fog has blanketed the harbor today.
ReplyDeleteThis is a magic memory - wonderful to be nine, although for me a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteShadow: I don't suppose I should do this, but I am thrilled to say my anthology of over fifty poems was published last week and is now available via my web-site:
http://www.susiehemingway.com/books/
proceeds are going to Multiple Myeloma
all P&P included in the price and it's a truly lovely looking book.
"A Power Within- Poems of Love" wonderful for Xmas Gifts.
i think my favorite pieces of yours, are the ones where you paint a soft and/or beautiful image; however, hiding underneath is sadly pure ...
ReplyDeletebeautiful,
smiles,
You are one talented poet!
ReplyDeleteThat is how i felt growing up
ReplyDeleteI was so afraid for her ... so often such lonely places don't turn out so well for the young ... a lovely piece and such images you draw in the mind.
ReplyDeleteShadow-I really like the form you chose for this and the language. I can see her and the gulls, the sand and the sea. And it makes me want to know her better. Very nice. ~rick
ReplyDeleteit reads like there is more yet waiting to rise to the surface Shadow...
ReplyDeletemuch like our childhood memories i guess
Age 9 I remember as it was yesterday--but yesterday I have forgotten... Age 9 scenario was different for me also. It was the bowels of a city where I found myself after late rehearsals, and a bus which ran only every hour.
ReplyDeleteScary times for ME.
Shadow, you DO have a way to ut peeps--with few words--where you were....or ARE!
once again, a grand display of your talent...
ReplyDeleteI love your (new?) masthead, it's beautiful. I am always blown away by your amazing photography. It inspires me to do more!!
ReplyDeleteI think maybe you can stray into heaven without realising that you are there!
ReplyDeleteI want to say something to give her comfort...
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for this little girl and trust God's grace will sustain her.
ReplyDeleteI am liking this for the differences, that I am use to reading from your words, although there is that trade mark of a beautiful flow through, that your babies carry.
ReplyDeletePurrrrrrrrrrrrfect closing of curtains too
'stranger ‘mongst friends, out of sight and unseen'
so much changes with time and how there is so much difference between the lives and shadows of a nine year old and once you grow up.i think with time and growth innocence is lost within yup as you said like a lost memory.hard to believe you were so different that time kind of like a stranger now!!well written and beautiful indeed in meaning and words and what it portrays.its how people change with time and how the childhood looks like a lost memory!!keep writing!!
ReplyDeletePlease forgive my tardiness,
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I almost missed a story. A familiar story to me (not my own) but shares many of the details and circumstances with a women's life and her experiences at or near the same age.
Life doesn't always add strength. Not when the wounds inflicted have not finished healing. Though the women I speak of is nothing less than very strong. To continue healing, as draws closer to complete will completely change her
I've felt the pains of isolation, but not experienced the damage personally.
I like you stories lovely shadow. This one has feeling I know
you captivate me! I should be in bed, but playing catch up on your writing is such a great pleasure! You are one talented being.
ReplyDelete