ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Elusive Muses
Wandering, gypsy souls
Today one was
Forever lost
The deed will not go unpunished
THERE WILL BE
Death in the Afternoon
Silent sighs
Silent hearts
Muses in hands
Not daring to let go
Worried,
Scurrying feet
Lips tightly sealed
Not daring to ask
For Whom the Bell Tolls….
We might not like the answer
But
Need to see
Need to peek
Who paid the price
For losing his Muse
Once again I sit
On this rich velvety chair
Reserved just for me
In a theatre filled with the stench of death
On each and every Afternoon.
By now I know every poet , writer and artist
Dead or alive
Each one of us having to once in a while
Check the Lost and Found
Though I grow tired of this daily event
And have secretly searched
For Hemingway’s Exit
(I yearn everyday for my house in the Key),
I am deeply honored
For every Ancient One
Acknowledges my presence
They know my name
The curtain slowly rises
We will once again watch
The Old Story
The Play
The Comedy
The Romantic Satire
And the Tragedy
Start to unfold
We all know the ending
A head will start to roll
But who’s?
We dare not ask
There is something different
In the atmosphere this Afternoon
The stench of fear and death
Is stronger
The air is too dense
Nausea and vertigo
Threatens to take over
From a distance
William cries
“Parting is such sweet sorrow”.
I seem to drown
In a menacing flood of ravens
Poe has released
In his search for his Annabelle’s
Burial ground
Cervantes has me riding all over the stage on
Don Quixote’s horse
As my Tale of Two Cities
Of too many Great Expectations
Is written before me
I am the puppet
The court jester
The fool
Ghost of Euripides
Master of ceremony
Lifeless eyes start to accuse me
This time it is I
That floats
After the bloody trail he leaves
Of Jason, Medea and
The innocent children.
“Have you no pity
Have you no mercy?”
I scream in my ire
I follow the Messenger
That I can not kill
The stage looks much smaller
Feels so much tighter from where I now stand
Filled with too many ghosts
And a guillotine.
Another afternoon
Another poet has been born
My empty rich velvety chair is not vacant anymore.
Comments
Darling Iris, this is one heartfelt write. It is dense with heavy emotion. Life drags us down, we seem to lose our muse…our spark for much of anything, for our own different reasons. An amazing write, and I feel you deeply. I have certainly missed you. I say keep writing if you can…even if it is dark, even if you write then want to rip it up and throw it away. You are a poet and this is proof of course. Blessing or curse….perhaps a bit of both?
Want to say I know……love you sweet friend. Sending hugs, shar XOXOXOXOOOXOXOXXOXOXOOXOXOX
Oh my sweet. sweet Shar. You are always there for me, my support. I know you understand very well, for many of us travel the same path. Smetimes the road is heavy with traffic but we feel we are walking alone. Thank you for calling me a poet. Even writing this took a lot of energy out of me. Maybe one day I will get that spunk back. I surely have missed you. As always, life gets in the way.
Love you always
Iris
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
– Iris R
Dear Iris…I have not time right now to read it….but will to it, with bliss….but I would love to invite you to post it in IBEROAMERICAN COLORS….did you join?
IBEROAMERICAN COLORS
Dear Iris…I have not time rith now to read it..(have to give a lesson) but I will do it heartfully afterwards…please..will you post it into IBEROAMERICAN COLORS?
Hugs
Rosa
Thank you so much for the invitation Rosa. I have just joined in and will post it there. I have been out for so long but glad to be back. I have missed you and I am honoured to have been invited. It sounds very enriching.
Iris
– Iris R
Aceptado!!!!!
I will read it…but I was so anxious about letting yoour entry in that I will read it afterwards….hugs for you..great to have you here.
Rosa
Iris, I’m so happy to see your avatar again ….. I’ve been thinking of you during these past months, hoping your absence was for the happy reasons of your grandchild’s birth. So very good to see you here this morning :)
Thank you Alenka for your wonderful welcome back. I was out for two whole months with the baby and my grandaughter and it has been a rewarding experience. But, I didn’t know it was so hard being a grandma. lol I’ve also been without a computer. Hope on seeing your works soon.
Iris
– Iris R
Dear Iris……never the HEMINGWAY´S EXIT… neverThat was not an exit but a propulsion of fear and death of the soul…I have been called by the title..for it speaps of a literay work where my country is been narrated in that terrible war that being fraticide is still producing sadness and frustration. When the Muse is meant to satisfy our own needs it is not the Muse really the one we were having relationship with…it is a different aspect of our Soul..but not alien to us, not being out of us..Is that your own Muse?…Yours is…and I mean…IS..a blessing and sometimes is behind our layers of pain, smeared of it. It is not true that for writing deepness we should feel the suffering of depression..no one is more artist for being a depressive one…but it is well true that to receive our blue moods with consciousness it brings us depth and a desire to fulfill our depth. I can see that your are a soul full of loved poetry and friends that have been helping your life with their words..and you are there, because you feel them. And you know the answer….“For whom the bells are tolling?….just for me…” and for you and for any of us. But at due time, or may be without not tolls at all. A laughing as high and golden as that of the loving and eternal “Fool”.
Great writing, Iris…
Warm hug for you.
Rosa
Thank you so much Rosa for being you. You have an insight that goes deeper into what the writer is expressing, you go beyond reading. That makes you a very spiritual being, but of course, a soul with feelings and emotions just as all of us. One of the things that I find makes you special is the generous heart you have and that is why you are always giving, taking the extra time. When I say that I look for Hemingway’s exit it is not because I am melancholy, but because, as you said, my soul feels dead and I thank the Gods for that inner strength that makes me push those thoughts away. I have my children to thank also, for just thinking of how miserable I would make their lives gives me the will to keep on. When I am deep in the abyss or high in my euphoria I cannot seem to write; it is when I am exiting those crisis’s and am in balance with myself that my feelings of my experiences will be put on paper. Is it my soul speaking or is it my muse putting it out in writing, I haven’t found the answer yet. For whom the bell tolls, well, we all know that it will soon toll for us, but when?, ahhh, do we dare take a peek? I ask this now humorously. As for Cervantes, I’m sure he is having a nice smile with all of us, for I think that Don Quixote was just as insane as we are at times. I’m sure Pablo Neruda is winking at me, for I am a romantic fool.
Thank you Rosa, for it is always a pleasure to exchange our ways of thinking making us hermanas.
Hugs and Love
Iris
– Iris R
Without a computer all that time!! Well, that explains why we haven’t heard from you, or seen images of the grand-baby :) Enjoy your “rich velvety chair” and the richness of life around you.
Alenka,
I have leaned to live without a computer for that is the story of my life. They don’t seem to like me so they are always deciding to make it a littler harder for me. lol. I will soon show a photo of Gabriela but I will have to introduce her the proper way. I always have to add drama to everything. tehehe
Iris
– Iris R
A very thought provoking write Iris!
…Brit…..
Thank you so much Brit for your comment. Thank you for reading. I appreciate you taking the time.
Iris
– Iris R
Deeply touching and soulful. From the very depths of your soul. Poignant and powerful. All who write wonder deep down when their muse will disappear. Speaking from my own experience when the muse is sleeping, one must keep the faith that she will not sleep for long.
I have missed seeing your beautiful writing, your heartfelt, soulful insight. When the light fades and things seem at their darkest, know that writing however strong, however dark, however you feel it may be insignificant, just write. Get the emotions on paper, release them. Stay the course dear friend. Yours is a blessing, a gift that will not be silenced. So wonderful to see your ink again my friend.
Thank you so much Marie. You have always been an inspiration for me as well as others I’m sure. Thank you for always supporting me and your understanding. Your comment really meant a lot to me; I read it several times and my heart is much lighter You have been a true friend always. I have missed you also and will try to catch up.
Iris
– Iris R