Emptiness
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Mistook a silver of light
For the warmth of the moon
How does one spend a long drawn day?
Drifting in the depths of dreams?
Or tucking time under the play of thoughts?
I lay my hand on the softness of my cheek
The tenderness, how long will it last?
But the night is still a dusk away
Although time is slipping from my grasp
Like the fall of tears from a newly blinded eye
Turned from the brown of a well trotted path
Onto a green carpet that leads to a cliff
Treaded softly on the bridge of hopes
Lightly linked by tiny wishes
A dying love, or perhaps a ring
Today a strong wind blew
Tomorrow may be dry and stark
But my life I knew nought of
Nothing to add to the whimsy bridge
Those frail emotions that have strengthed all -
Mistook a silver of light
For the warmth of the moon
How does one spend a long drawn day?
Drifting in the depths of dreams?
Or tucking time under the play of thoughts?
I really like this poem.
The first two lines already capture my imagination. Usually in poetry we tend to associate sun with warmth, happiness, hope while moon with coldness, icy, aloof, etc. Instead the poet tells us that he/she
‘Mistook a silver of light
For the warmth of the moonÂ’
Warmth of the moon? Can you imagine how cold he/she felt?
The next three lines suggest the poet is in a semi-conscious state ‘Drifting in the depths of dreams?’ I guess he/she is alone, maybe bored, not sure what to do to pass time. Personally, the word ‘day’ in the third sentence could be interpreted as ‘life’ thus implicating the poet is quite young, maybe between 15 - 20 yrs old?
I lay my hand on the softness of my cheek
The tenderness, how long will it last?
But the night is still a dusk away
Although time is slipping from my grasp
Like the fall of tears from a newly blinded eye
Phrases such as ‘softness of my cheek’ and ‘The tenderness’ support my previous hypothesis that the poet is quite young. Here he/she is pondering the cold realities of growing old, ‘The tenderness, how long will it last?’
The word ‘it’ could be interpreted as ‘youth’. But the poet continues to reassure himself/herself, ‘But the night is still a dusk away’, i.e. night may mean ‘old age’. However he/she does admits that Time waits for nobody, ‘slipping from my grasp’
However the last line in this stanza stunned me, ‘Like the fall of tears from a newly blinded eye’. This reminded me of the blinding of Gloucester in Shakespeare’s famous tragic King Lear. The scene of Cornwall plucking out Gloucester eyes with his bare hands and screams of poor Gloucester simply refuses to get out of my mind.
Is the poet trying to portray the cruelty of time forcefully ‘plucking’ the 'youth' out from him/her?
Turned from the brown of a well trotted path
Onto a green carpet that leads to a cliff
Treaded softly on the bridge of hopes
Lightly linked by tiny wishes
A dying love, or perhaps a ring
The mood changes in the third stanza as he/she led the readers from the trotted path to a land of greenery. When I read the second stanza I have a feeling that the poet is leading us to his/her inner world. The ‘green carpet’ is in contrast with the ‘well trotted path’. It is untouched by other people, a haven belonging to her/him alone.
Another image that comes into my mind as I read this stanza is of marriage or longing for love. Somehow the ‘green carpet’ reminds me of the ‘red carpet’ used in weddings. What I don’t understand is why does it led to a cliff? Another question is why ‘A dying love’? A ring I can understand, which may symbolize marriage, union of love, but why a dying love? Can it be that the longing of being love is so strong that even a dying love is better than no love at all?
Today a strong wind blew
Tomorrow may be dry and stark
But my life I knew nought of
Nothing to add to the whimsy bridge
Those frail emotions that have strengthed all
In the last stanza, the poet addresses the uncertainties of his/her and future. Being an emotional person, he /she concludes that ‘Those frail emotions’ are all he/she has to strengthen the ‘bridges of hopes’ and keep him/her going.
This is my interpretation, what about yours? -
Hello deadpoet~~ you got the first stanza right. It's about the person, actually a girl, wondering what to do with her life. yes, she is young. she thought that the day has already gone and yet another night has arrived, instead it is still day and she has no idea what to do.
In the second stanza, there is a paradox. she acknowledges that she is still young and to her, there is quite some time before she grows old. but time is moving fast and she feels she has no control over it. Yes, the night represent old age and the dusk, youth. you got it right again. but instead of lamenting over her aging, she is (as i would like her to come across as) simple recognising her youth and acknowledging that it would not last. she dont know just how long it will last bcos it is not for her to decide. she could die tomorrow and retain her youth, no one knows.
as for the last line..."a newly blind eye"...i used this phase bcos a newly blind eye represents a regret. it means that the eye can see before, but now it has lost its sight. and it's when you lose something than you know the value of it and the tears come fiercer than an eye that can see. the girl is feeling aimless right now, but her youth is slipping away as time passes. sight is aliken to youth and blindness to old age. one day, the girl will lose her youth and she will then realise she should have treasure itIs the poet trying to portray the cruelty of time forcefully ‘plucking’ the 'youth' out from him/her?
hmm..not really. not forcefully at least. just a natural process of a living being.
the third stanza, the girl turned from the path she usually takes to somewhere she doesnt know. it's somewhere she's never been to. she walked on until she reached a cliff. Imagine that the place belongs to everyone. The cliff represents a lowpoint at some time of their lives. However, they have hopes which build a bridge so that they these people are able to continue with their lives. The hopes which made up the bridge belongs to them, not the girl. "A dying love"... this wish belong to someone, one of the many wishes that made up the bridge. He/she hopes that his/love will come back. "a ring" represents another wish, for the union with a loved one. they are simply representations of the wishes people have.
But your interpretation is interesting. I have never thought of it this way.longing of being love is so strong that even a dying love is better than no love at all?
i guess not. because she doesnt know love.
In the last stanza, the poet addresses the uncertainties of his/her and future
.
this is correct.Being an emotional person, he /she concludes that ‘Those frail emotions’ are all he/she has to strengthen the ‘bridges of hopes’ and keep him/her going.
She feels that she has no wishes, nothing to build on her own bridge. She thinks that having wishes like those she treaded on are weak, hence the word "frail" and she does not understand how they have made the people strong enough to overcome their low points and move on. because she cant. she knows they are precious, so she "treaded lightly"
PHEW!
finally. thanks to DeadPoet for letting me know your interpretation. It was mostly accurate. Very observant! Appreciate your comments. They let me had a look from another perspective. Thanks a lotz! -
DP is the master poet around here.Originally posted by eskyhastofall:Hello deadpoet~~ you got the first stanza right. It's about the person, actually a girl, wondering what to do with her life. yes, she is young. she thought that the day has already gone and yet another night has arrived, instead it is still day and she has no idea what to do.
In the second stanza, there is a paradox. she acknowledges that she is still young and to her, there is quite some time before she grows old. but time is moving fast and she feels she has no control over it. Yes, the night represent old age and the dusk, youth. you got it right again. but instead of lamenting over her aging, she is (as i would like her to come across as) simple recognising her youth and acknowledging that it would not last. she dont know just how long it will last bcos it is not for her to decide. she could die tomorrow and retain her youth, no one knows.
as for the last line..."a newly blind eye"...i used this phase bcos a newly blind eye represents a regret. it means that the eye can see before, but now it has lost its sight. and it's when you lose something than you know the value of it and the tears come fiercer than an eye that can see. the girl is feeling aimless right now, but her youth is slipping away as time passes. sight is aliken to youth and blindness to old age. one day, the girl will lose her youth and she will then realise she should have treasure it
She feels that she has no wishes, nothing to build on her own bridge. She thinks that having wishes like those she treaded on are weak, hence the word "frail" and she does not understand how they have made the people strong enough to overcome their low points and move on. because she cant. she knows they are precious, so she "treaded lightly"
PHEW! finally. thanks to DeadPoet for letting me know your interpretation. It was mostly accurate. Very observant! Appreciate your comments. They let me had a look from another perspective. Thanks a lotz!
just curious. are u the girl in the poem? -
DP is the master poet around here.
hmm...i guess there is a bit of ourselves in the poems we write la~~ i have some of myself in her, but not all lor~~
just curious. are u the girl in the poem?
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ok. i see....Originally posted by eskyhastofall:hmm...i guess there is a bit of ourselves in the poems we write la~~ i have some of myself in her, but not all lor~~ -
kok Ah Heng on the head!Originally posted by HENG@:DP is the master poet around here.
just curious. are u the girl in the poem?
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Thanks for sharing eskyhastofall. That is why I like poetry, different people can have different perspectives of a same poem and the funny thing is they all make sense.
But of course only the poet who wrote it know best.
Presently I am reading two of LazerLordz's poems. Care to comment? -
u mean "Silence" and "Drifter.."?
okie pokie~
*koks ah heng somemore" -
kok me for wad?!Originally posted by DeadPoet:kok Ah Heng on the head! -
kok me somemore for wad?!Originally posted by eskyhastofall:u mean "Silence" and "Drifter.."?
okie pokie~
*koks ah heng somemore" -
Scandal!Originally posted by HENG@:kok me somemore for wad?! -
where got?!Originally posted by DeadPoet:Scandal! -
wad scandal!?
