Reflections on Poetry, Vol 2 (The Wall- My Best Work)
Hello!
Today I want to share with you the best poem that I've written - at least it's certainly my favorite! It has two parts and each part was written several months apart. This poem started off as a short story, but it turned into rhyming couplets so a story poem was born! One of the things I'm proud of in this poem is the concept of the character of "One". One has no name on purpose and so can stand for different things... The one that everyone searches for, a first love (as "one" is the first number), simply the one that someone loves.... lots of ways to interpret it! The other characters have no name on purpose, and if you read all the way to the end, there’s a little hidden reason why “One” doesn’t have a name as well!
This poem can be either read or listened to, but my personal preference is listened to. You can hear the cadence of the stanzas better that way, giving it a more musical feel. As always, both options are provided below!
The Wall (The Story of She and One)
There once were two kids who were so deep in love
Their hearts opened like flowers with sun from above
They drank from the vine underneath sunny skies
And neither one ever had reasons to cry.
When out of the blue a storm cloud rolled in
The flowers closed up, rain pelted their skin
Wind ruined the petals, water flooded the roots
And nothing was left but damage that was absolute.
They then built a wall where the garden once stood
and closed off their hearts, whatever it took
They stood on their sides, not wanting to see
What the rainstorm had taken, what wasn't meant now to be.
But with whispering voices they checked through the air
that the other was safe, on their side, over there
Soon only one girl was left with her hand on the wall
Hoping and wishing someday it would fall
She called out to The One somewhere there on their side
"One, please come back! You don't have to hide!
Let's replant the garden, build up from the seeds!
The sun will come out, this time never to leave."
She would, if she could, just have torn the wall down
but the tools that could do so were in One's far away hands
She sat at the wall, near day after day
Now afraid to speak up, to scare One farther away
Her heart grew so tired as she sat by herself
Alone she would weep, fight the cards she'd been dealt.
One day she sat up, a new thought in her mind
"I'm better than this- sitting here just to pine!"
She thought to herself "I've a big choice today...
Keep waiting for One, or turn now and walk away"
The choice was not easy - a tough one to make
Which one would free her? Give her poor heart a break?
A ladder it set, right next to the wall
She could go up and over - see One after all!
But what would it be like, as she approached to the top.
"I'm afraid of a push... and an awfully long drop"
She stood at the bottom, knowing not what to do
Only wishing that One would want to break the wall too.
"I cannot climb over to see One's bright face
to force it just wouldn't be fair to One's space
so she whispered another sweet plea to the air
"One, if you hear me, this really isn't quite fair"
but all that was heard from that side of the wall
was a silence that proved the wall would not fall.
She gathered her strength, blew a kiss on the breeze
Then put down the ladder amongst the leaves and the trees
And giving the wall one last good hard look
She stepped one foot away, summoned the courage it took.
Leaving a message behind, she then turned away
"One, if you find this, you can follow the way
but sitting beside that wall only hurt
so to tend a new garden, I must begin to search."
So she blindly stepped forward into the unseen
Across the wasteland, hoping to find a new dream
Every step was like lead but she needed to move
Couldn't waste away waiting with so much to lose
She looked over her shoulder with a feeling of dread
Hoping to silence the thoughts in her head
All that she wanted to to be called back around
But she knew in her gut she would not hear a sound.
Still she pondered the thought, "If I call out from here
Maybe One will realize there is nothing to fear"
When out of the corner, a light caught her eye
That shimmered and danced and bid her come nigh.
Reluctant, intrigued, she made a new path
To that light that shone bright cutting through aftermath
The farther she got from the wall it would seem
The brighter the light shone strong like a beam.
It drew near her and warmed her, kept her safe through the night
To a land beyond dreaming it guided her sight
Till bittersweet but victorious she found a new place
See away from the wall... a new world did await.
What did she find in this new world but hope!
And blooming bright gardens of sparkling kaleidoscopes
She carried bits of the path that she blazed in the dark
and the people she met there admired her heart
And when looking around not a wall could be seen
With a sign of relief, she said "Now I can rest and be free"
So how ends the tale of the girl and of One?
It has not and ending, but rotates with the sun
But it does have a moral, a lesson to think upon
Sometimes to get what you need, you have to walk on.
The Wall (The conclusion)
The girl sat warming her hands by a fire
And a smoldering thought grew higher and higher
Content as she was, here away from the wall
From the back of her heart, she could still hear it call.
She wrestled with desire to turn and go back
For even with One gone, she still felt so trapped
It was hard to plant seeds, a garden anew
She still yearned for the old one, and the flowers that grew
But still she persisted, she was in the right place
Landscaping ideas that before never had the space
When out of the blue, a messenger arrived
Telling a tale, knocking her down with surprise
“I have been to the wall!” The messenger cried
“I found a way in” his voice filled with pride.
“Inside the wall One’s garden now blooms
But Another is there, tending One’s wounds.
One and Another have built a permanent home
And she’s been there the whole time”, he said in somber tones.
The girl felt something inside her just shatter and break.
This news was far worse than anything she could take.
While she had been waiting there for One by the wall
One was off planting; didn’t care for the girl after all
“One knew I was sitting there, knew I cared to the end”
And One said “I care for you too, And do want to be friends”
The girl questioned and wrestled with thoughts in her mind
“How could One just forget, How could I misread the signs?”
But now with this news the wall finally made sense.
Why One would check on the girl, but from behind the wall, tense.
One built the wall to hide the new home and new garden
Not to heal from the storms that all thought left One so hardened.
Her heart filled with just anger, betrayal anew
She was quickly consumed about what now to do.
Should she march herself strongly straight back to that place?
Throw over that ladder, get right in One’s face?
Accuse One of all the dishonesty she felt?
Make One feel bad, deal back what One dealt?
She thought about going that very day
Taunting “You tried to hide it, but I found out anyway!”
She felt so broken, so back at the start
When One had first surprised her, by breaking her heart.
But she just couldn’t get her feet to then hit the path
Justice didn’t seem worth risking more wounds from combat
She sat by the fire, unable to move
Unable to speak, a new wall around her just grew
She went inside herself, sent people to go
The fire burnt out, inside her soul
Remember, however, this place filled with light?
This place brought her out of the that first deep dark night.
And shadows of her village were cast on the wall
As the people around her waited for her wall to fall.
Little by little she tore it all down
She talked with the village, she walked through the town
Little by little light again filled her eyes
And little by little, she began now to rise.
She decided that One was not worth the time.
She no longer had any tiny place in her mind.
She gave herself mercy for holding on so long
And the tiniest melody again filled her heart with a song.
The news, she thought, was a good thing in disguise.
For now finally she knew the truth from the lies.
No more looking back, no more energy given
To One with no name, who caused such division.
So she dug in her heals, and learned what she was made of
Learned who she was, discovered life’s what you make it
She discovered Not a victim, but a victor inside
She felt the love within her arise.
She put all of the pain in a box on a shelf
And then planted new seeds there all by herself
This seed in good soil quickly took root
And flowers and trees soon gave her fruit
And one day Someone stopped by the garden
Admired and talked there until skies had darkened
What was this feeling the girl felt inside?
But giddy that Someone had come into her life
Hopeful but patient, the girl still did know
Her garden had much more it needed to grow
Before Someone could enter and become the one
To help her tend her sweet garden until it was done.
She tried not to plan it, tried not to predict
How long Someone would continue to visit
As she planted she let herself enjoy the chat
(And each day always hoped Someone would come back)
At the end of the day, she stood looking out
On her garden and village and knew without a doubt
Her garden would grow. She knew she was strong
All that she wanted was in her all along.
Is this the real ending of She and of One?
Life does continue changing but this chapter is done.
It wasn’t easy, the final and last moving on
But now she can breathe, the Wall once and for all gone
Gone from the mind, gone from the heart
She learned Sometimes good things can grow, when all falls apart.
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