Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Longing


    “Every person has a longing to be significant; to make a contribution; to be part of something noble and purposeful.”— John C. Maxwell


SOURCE


“Sometimes when I look at you, I feel I am gazing at a distant star. It’s dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago. May be the star doesn’t even exist anymore. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything.”— Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun


       Midweek Motif ~ Longing


Longing is an all-embracing emotion. Intentionally or unwittingly we incorporate ‘longing’ in whatever we do. It’s our driving force.

When I look around I find young people desperately longing for freedom, stability; some ambitious ones running after wealth and fame; older ones with an eye for the happy bygone days now yearn for fulfillment; some long for joy, wellbeing and peace; in the face of adversity many simply long to escape; everyone wants to belong somewhere.

Longing to write in an almost impossible condition had prison- literature flourish in many countries. The famous Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and memoirist Nâzım Hikmet Ran was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. This much for those who long for creativity, words.

I cannot resist sharing one of Ran’s poem I Come and Stand at Every Door.

[It’s a plea for peace from a seven-year-old girl, ten years after she has perished in the atomic bomb attack at Hiroshima, Wikipedia] :

I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.

I'm only seven although I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I'm seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow.

My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.

I need no fruit, I need no rice I
need no sweet, nor even bread
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.

All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of this world
May live and grow and laugh and play.




What do you long for?



Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—

(Next week Poets United Midweek Motif is Changes hosted by Susan & Sumana)
  

11 comments:

  1. Happy Wednesday everyone! Enjoy words :)

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  2. Happy day to you, too, from Coxsackie, NY!

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  3. Happy Wednesday.
    Thoroughly enjoyed todays video and poem selections.

    Posting from my mobile phone today, very tedious process. Soon i will be posting through my new ISP, yeah

    Much💞love

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  4. After a week of on-call and little sleep, I'm looking forward to today's postings (and catching up on Sunday's). Greetings from the Stranded Tree Farm to all.

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  5. Thanks, Sumana. I will be back later this morning. The poem from the perspective of a perished seven year old is very moving.

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  6. Such a touching poem about Hiroshima. Made me think of when we folded a thousand paper cranes to hang of The Children's Peace Memorial.

    However my poem is about a very different type of longing.

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  7. A very moving poem indeed – and how beautifully Pete Seeger turns it into song.

    I am having an insomniac episode – up at 3.30 after going to bed at 1am! So, after I visited here, that became inspirational!

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  8. Late to the Poetry Feast today - baking and brewing and stewing for tomorrow's Turkey Day...no turkey though! Lots of sides and veggies, and good old southern congealed salads. My frig is about to burst. I am grateful and will share out the goodies tomorrow. Y'all come.

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  9. Thank you for sharing that fantastic and moving poem.

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  10. ... beautiful. I gave it a ten minute whirl... Thanksgiving has me hopping. I'll be back later this evening after I figure out how to arrange my refrigerator!!!

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  11. Sumana and Poets United,
    I found this to be a very seasonal prompt, when I considered the meaning of longing for me right now.
    A great prompt word..
    Have a lovely new week and a Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it..
    Best wishes, Eileen.

    ReplyDelete

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