As A Sister Poem by Daniel Brick
As A Sister
Suzanne awoke abruptly, gripping
the sheet with both hands to steady
her nerves. What nocturnal apparition
had so shaken her sleeping self?
The night surged around her, offering
no comfort. Oh, how she wished to sink
headlong into the rhythms of sleep, and
not awake until morning light covered
everything with its gentle radiance.
Suzanne was trapped in a cul de sac
between the lure of night and the weight
of day. The clock told her the harsh truth:
four hours until the earliest light,
four hours before the carillon of birds signaled
a fresh turn of time, four hours restlessly
mocking lost sleep... Suzanne recited
a passage by Denise Levertov, more prayer
than poem, and lay back in readiness.
Then sleep rose invisibly from its place
of being, and quickly descended on Suzanne.
All her thoughts and worries, her desires and
fears, her appetites and dreams, sleep rolled
together and dropped deep, deep, far deeper
than the chamber of rest into which it placed her.
And Suzanne slept without effort the rest
of the night. Sleep slowly withdrew to answer
the summons of others in need...
* * * *
In a large grassy field adjacent to her apartment,
Suzanne stood amid the aromas and colors of
wild flowers, at a comfortable distance from others.
The slanting light of mid-morning made everything shine!
Suzanne watched the bustle of people, rushing, racing.
She turned to face a wall of foliage, and joined
the trees and shrubs, the small animals and the birds
in inhaling and exhaling the green air. She was content:
in her heart she knew the earth loved her as a sister.
this idea (that the earth loved her as a sister) is absolutely NEW to me. I never thought earth loves me, or any human being. or even animal. I never thought about earth as Mother, as ancient people do. I think she is indifferent to me! But of course it is untrue! she gives so much, we are integrated with her. She is also only a donor for us, and we are spoiling her, because we are not tought to remember that she loves us, now I see that it is obvious! but how deep in dark our minds are to forget it! Thank you for this flash idea, Daniel!
I am smiling ear to ear as I read this. I'm not even sure why. I think certain phrases just resonated with me. One, your character is a woman....me too! Two: I have woken in the middle of the night started, wondering...what midnight apparition... Three: I am woken every morning by a carillon of birds...we have more birds than you could imagine in our yard...and carillon! I LOVE that word! My parents live next to the Carillon in D.C. It plays every night. Four: Cul De Sac....I LOVE that word too! I've never read another poet use that term like you...and it TOTALLY works! Five: Denise Levertov...never read her, but grew up staring at a book or two with her name on the spine....evoked childhood memories. Six: The Epilogue...I love that you did such a beautiful epilogue. I imagined her actually becoming a part of the wall itself in tune with her sister...was she a ghost too? This was lovely and I enjoyed reading it. I got part poem and part story. Very well done. So Daniel.
Whenever I am able to get any decent sleep, everything seems more beautiful too. : -)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 10:55:08 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Such a beautiful poem. In Nature we find comfort n solace. To have the feeling that earth loves her as a sister, what bliss! The agony of a sleepless night is so well put n how a poem recitation brings back the elusive sleep, it's wonderfully written. With the morning light disappear all the misgivings n apprehensions of the night. This is what all of us have experienced at some point. But the way you have put it, it's simply awesome. Loved it.