My Love broke apart
But not so my heart
I hold to the faith
For life until death
In childhood she was used
A mother who gave food
But not much more than that
A father who was crap.
Insecure attachment made Her
Vulnerable to a bastard
Who twisted her need for more love
And broke it with seduction rough.
A minefield lies under the surface
Randomly exploding all her grace
Wrecking relationships all the time
Dragging her hope down into the grime.
But she is a tough warrior
Who strives to heal still further
Though latterly the magnitude
Of shame keeps her in solitude.
Unpicking wounds to her heart
Struggling to discourse with parts
Who would have her do nothing
And flinch at telephone’s ring.
It is hard to stay up
To mind self or even sup
So locked away from all
Nowhere further to fall.
My Love broke apart
But not so our hearts
We hold to the faith
For life denies death.
© Andrew Wilson, 2023
Written for dVerse – Poets Pub – MTB: When ‘We’ writes poetry, posted by Laura Bloomsbury of Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft
The challenge was:
- We as a pair, a couple (not a group)
- It can be any real or imaginary friendship
- It might be a significant other, a relative or a pet
- But the poem’s stanzas MUST BE WRITTEN AS COUPLETS
- A MINIMUM OF THREE stanzas (preferably more)
- There are several types of couplets to choose from (see here for definitions)
I love this.
Thank you Shawna. My first visit to the pub was great fun – the animal verbing, but the last two pieces very dark, and I was hesitant about posting this but couples was the subject and it is what it is. I also wanted to try such a tight form with such a particular subject. I also played with the line lengths to allow a little more leeway. The shorter lines force a greater enigmaticness.
Thank you for visiting and your comment…
thank you for joining the challenge with this remarkable poem – I re-read it several times and was struck by how your lines mirror the tightness of her holding on, holding in and the final stanza is an (almost positive) outcome which contrast so clearly with the start
Thank you Laura – that’s exactly it…
Tightly woven, as is the way to a wounded heart.
Thanks Brendan, glad to see you again.
Wonderful.
Thanks Melissa – hard to feel good about such a difficult subject and I had qualms about sharing it but it is a way of coping with things at present.
Thanks for visiting – not everything I write is so dark…
Nice to see you at the pub… it is highly addictive and I do love this way to describe the hardship and how the first stanza mirrored the last.
You’re right – it is addictive like so many “challenges” and I am having to ration myself…
Thanks for visiting!
Love the rawness of this poem, and the mirrored first and last stanzas.
Poetry is often full of metaphors and fancy adjective but some subjects just need to be told as they are…
Thanks for visiting Sara