Friday, March 9, 2012

"Abandoned Houses" (poem)

A prompt from Carry on Tuesday:
This week we have the title and first line of Merle Haggard's country song 
Life's like Poetry
 
 

~ Abandoned Houses ~
 

In some kind of persistent love-hate quest
I keep looking for them when on the road,

I’m drawn to them.  Forsaken, forgotten,
Abandoned – they work their rusty magic,

The old spell of deterioration.
They pull me into their orbit of words

Once spoken, echoes of laughter and cries,
And the silent footsteps of time gone by.

Their empty eyes, their souls open to winds,
Their drafty hollowness – speak poetry.

They’re like an ode to ghosts of the past -
Life’s transient visitors, turned to dust.

I love poetry, but I prefer life.

 


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Image credit: 
http://www.123rf.com

10 comments:

  1. Derelict houses always hint at a story, and you captured the feeling.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Rinkly, I love those houses, but they do make me very sad.

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  2. Replies
    1. Life is poetry, poetry is life, the 'dead' houses are poetic, thus living?.. My head's spinning :-)

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  3. "They pull me into their orbit of words..." and then gravity locks you into place.

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  4. that last line is powerful. i like how you really love the old houses, so cool

    gainfully employed

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  5. Love this poem. Beautifully written and haunting. It's true, you see an abandoned house and you can almost hear the echoes of the lives that were lived there.

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