How long do others speak if we have already spoken? (Neruda)*
Vain man, your use of the 'Royal we' is why you're unable to listen
but solipsism's the loneliest cross so stop and look up. Listen
hard to admirers' hearts; ours, this deep, mirrored pool of tears
in which your beauty rebounds. Still dripping. Listen
to sighs of such fruitless love, and scorned though we are
there's no blame in this pain. Yet lovestruck, I listen
for amorous words but hear only moans, like the ghost of a wind
caught in glass. Break out, break free from those hypnotized eyes. Listen
how poesy intones in the brook, a soundscape of bird call, some rumble,
some thunder and pattering drops on young leaves. Listen
out for the whirr of wings, to chattering creatures, their cries in the night
these break-ins through silence all rally relief. Now listen -
and hear just the one-tolling bell; for those who have loved there is mourning.
You've only a dumbstruck mimic to grieve. Look up, look out - and listen.
- the royal we – i,e, nosism – using ‘we’ to refer to oneself when expressing a personal opinion
- solipsism – the belief that only oneself and one’s experience exists
- narcissism – love of oneself to the exclusion of others
- the Echo/Narcissus myth
For my MTB prompt: Echoing Back we are choosing at least one from a given selection of Pablo Neruda’s “Book of Questions” and writing an answering poem that echoes/refrains on an end word, as here in this Ghazal.
PoetryPix 