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Pulse: a poem on setting out

[ by Charles Cameron — thunder, lightning, wind, water, moon, thanks and praise ]

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Pulse

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Like a thunderbolt out of juicy nothingness
a chord
            strikes, as if
from the face before time itself, lightning:
                                                                nor
is there any measuring the impact a breeze
might ripple out across waters, each drop
containing,
                  constraining
its reflected ocean.

                              Live, then, your
lively life, be struck, dumb, gifted, wildly
giving – what else? – thanks
and praise. Not as flattering tongues praise,
                                but as one moon
surrenders herself, gone, crescent, whole
and shattered, across each and all
                              turbulent and calm waters.

2 Responses to “Pulse: a poem on setting out”

  1. Madhu Says:

    Wonderful, Charles.
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    “Live, then, your lovely life….”
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    Very nice.

  2. Charles Cameron Says:

    Hi, Madhu:
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    Thanks!
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    I actually had “live, then, your lively life” because I wanted to get at the liveliness, which is what makes it lovely — also because I like all those long i sounds, lively, life, wildly…
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    But if I woke up and found your version and mine sitting there together and forgot which one I’d originally chosen — I might well prefer yours!
    .
    Thanks anyway, I always think of you when posting poems here, and hoped you’d see & like it.


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