I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

21 May 2015

Sweet Dreams

A clear memory
involving you and me
in our heyday,
when we were vigorous
and efficient
in the way we did our lives —
our life together.

We are helping
a woman, a visitor
resting on our bed.
She is lying face down;
I don’t recognise
who she is, but I am familiar
with your compassion.

Then I become
lucid, and realise I dream.
At once I understand
this never happened here:
in my dream
I am dreaming another dream
as if remembering.

Can it be
we had a life, a continuity
beside this one,
on some other plane?
Did we always
inhabit each other’s dreams?
I like the thought.

Happiness was
the irrelevant by-product
of sharing our lives,
conducting them together.
It was being aligned,
interested in each other.
And we were helpful!

Happiness
was active; it was engagement.
I like that it goes on
in another, simultaneous realm
accessed by dreams.
Perhaps it keeps continuing
even when I wake.

In my mind now,
my awake, remembering mind,
I am running
to meet you, across a green field
by a stream.
There are low hills in the distance,
and wildflowers.




















Written in response to the current Midweek Motif at Poets United: Happiness.

25 comments:

  1. happiness is indeed being together...love the last stanza...

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  2. This is so beautiful, Rosemary! I am drawn to the physics behind the suppositions, the possibilities of a fluid time-space continuum. If you can imagine or dream it, it has happened, is happening, will happen, all at once.

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  3. This is so heart-warming... happiness in memories.. of being together... spending each moment wrapped in their thoughts.. a true form of joy..! Loved this exquisite piece!

    Lots of love
    Sanaa

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  4. WHat contentment, that double plain/plane! I would be giddy with happiness. Thank you God. And thank you Rosemary for the detail that draws me into this experience.

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  5. thanks for sharing your happy remembrances with us Rosemary.
    i'm happy you dropped by to read mine

    much love...

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  6. Can it be
    we had a life, a continuity
    beside this one,
    on some other plane?
    Did we always
    inhabit each other’s dreams?
    I like the thought............ OH, Rosemary, I love that thought, too..... and your ending. Just lovely

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  7. I'm starting my morning with your poem Rosemary. I'll carry thoughts of it with me as I bike along the Colorado River.

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  8. i find some of the stanzas sad. but it is needed to give an exclamation point to freedom / happiness felt.

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  9. Beautiful poem. I like how you write from such a personal stance, how you console yourself with imaginings of other realms (which may be real), and how you resign yourself, somewhat happily, to your loss. Thank you for this poem. It touched my heart.

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  10. Glad the dreams linger of such a happy life.
    Precious are the memories

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  11. This is richly layered, intriguing and...

    "I am dreaming another dream
    as if remembering."

    This is so cool...it's like that mirror in a mirror into infinity...excellent, Rosemary!

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  12. I like this, Rosemary....the idea of being with one another on different 'planes.' The last stanza is wonderful... A wonderful dream, or is it real? (Smiles)

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  13. Rosemary,

    Love this poem and these lines in particular,' Happiness was active; it was an engagement.' So sad when one is left in a singular mode, without completing so much together...Dreams play with our minds and toss us into a false start of thinking we have found that belonging and happiness again..Sensitive and emotive..
    Eileen

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  14. I loved every bit of this, but especially the last stanza

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    1. It's so good that you and others comment on this stanza — it's the one I almost decided to drop!

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  15. Sad, compassionate, full of longing and just so beautiful.

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  16. I like that idea of happiness being active..if you sit and wait for it to visit you you maybe waiting for a very long time ;)

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  17. There is a beautiful other-worldly feel to this :-)

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  18. Wistful and lovely- what a beautiful image the last stanza conjures X

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  19. this is beautiful and evocative and also sad at the same time. I love:

    Can it be
    we had a life, a continuity
    beside this one,
    on some other plane?
    Did we always
    inhabit each other’s dreams?
    I like the thought.

    thank you.

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  20. Rosemary, this catches at my heart - happiness as a byproduct of sharing your lives so wonderfully......."Happiness was active; it was engagement." Lovely. And the closing, in your thoughts running to meet him across the meadow full of wildflowers....makes me cry.

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  21. Myriad emotions flowing through every stanza, so captivating.....Beautifully penned!

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  22. Lovely poem, Rosemary. Happiness is indeed active, it is sharing and it is dependent on doing good. Having a special person beside us with whom we can share the happiness, multiplies it...

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