Joy More Ephemeral

by sibyllene   Jul 23, 2009


I got the news while driving
a long road on a showering day:
twenty-one, dead, car accident.
Slithers of water snake in rivulets,
sky passing in patches from grey to blue to grey-
life is so fragile, joy more
ephemeral still, and we chase bright slips of
light between the storm clouds,
racing to escape their shadows:
leaden, thick, dark,
and swiftly rushing to swallow us up.

There is a splendour of golden greenness against
a brooding backdrop of towering dark

it's all newly washed slick with rain-
sun lights bright and mad
on the blackness of crows, the softness of fields,
and I think,
at least,
it's a perfect day for dying.

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Latest Comments

  • 14 years ago

    by silvershoes

    Crazy Horse once said, "Today is a good day to die." Of course the context was a warrior going into battle, feeling that to die in battle is an honorable, desirable death.. but a nice day is as good as any day to die.
    You used lots of cool imagery here, Sibs. Driving in your car, living your life - a day like any other. A simple phone call, a phone call that could be like any other, but is not.. and suddenly your world comes crashing down.
    It's a curious side effect of death, how it can make us feel so much more alive.

  • 14 years ago

    by Jordan

    This poem kind of catches me off guard...maybe I'm used to more intense imagery from you. But that's not to say I didn't like it!

    It's very concise. Really gets the point across, and of course, you so skillfully play with my mind's vision. I love seeing the sky fade from blue to grey, back and forth.

    "it's all newly washed slick with rain-
    sun lights bright and mad
    on the blackness of crows, the softness of fields,
    and I think,
    at least,
    it's a perfect day for dying."

    And as for those lines...well...like always, you seem to make everything beautiful.

    Bravo, Sibbles. I know I always say it, but I'm so glad that I found you on this site.

  • 14 years ago

    by Michael D Nalley

    It seems to me you have done extremely well extracting and arranging your words beautifully without losing the dark and sober tone of the tragedy expressed in this poem.

  • 14 years ago

    by sibyllene

    Aha! Thanks, didn't catch that. I still can't decide if I want all of this in the same poem, or if I want to split it up. I guess that's always the challenge: sorting out ideas, delineating feelings in order to make them pronounceable, when in reality they're all jumbled up together.

  • 14 years ago

    by abracadabra

    Ha indeed! Now your poem isn't sad at all, at least to me. Lovely. Your poems are usually lovely- love is evident in every line, and attract love toward them.
    Perhaps change "live" to "life" though?