Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem-lily August 2, 2014

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:18 am
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The scent

wound around the room

burrowed up the nostrils

and drained out eyes.

Set away

from sensitive noses

the lily’s petals have fallen

and still its heavy scent

fills the heated air,

present in death,

like warm memories

of you.

 

 

 

 

19 Responses to “poem-lily”

  1. As always more beautifully sensitive poetry. Excellent. The Lily has often been associated with death and funeral parlors but I see Jesus who is called the Lily of the Valley as source of redemption, sanctuary and deliverance.

  2. Shawn …. why not write it in first person? ks

  3. wull … i can see why first person would interfere with the “lily’s petals” .,.. unless somehow they are related more closely with the ”me” of first person. I sense your words sad and forlorn … begging to be able to let go of memories after death … ks

    • Focusing on the lily itself, turning the flower into the active ‘character’ in the poem gives it power.

      In fact, the flower is quite dead in my solarium, and yet its scent is still pungent. There is something disquieting about that, and it begged for a metaphor, particularly following our recent loss.

  4. Very eloquently stated

  5. I genuinely don’t know how you do what you do — only that you do it so incredibly well.

    ❤ Kimba

  6. Simply beautiful, I love this. Thank you for sharing, many blessings to you,

  7. Michael Fink's avatar Michael Fink Says:

    There’s a sort of glimmering darkness in this, in how gracefully the stronger words play off the more fragile ones. I truly enjoyed reading this, and look forward to exploring more of your writing.

  8. Melody J Haislip's avatar Melody J Haislip Says:

    Shawn, I loved your poem and left a nice comment. Did it not take?


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