(a Mayberrie’ series poem)
.
At noon she steals away
to secret fields
and there she spots an eagle
circling the clouds.
She hears it break
the barriers
of space and hook
and wishes she could fly its wings
and soar beyond the borders
to where he mines his dreams.
.
All she ever wants
is just to make him smile,
to reach across the breech of time,
to brush her lips
across his brow.
But now a mountain
stands between
of fences, walls and broken gates.
.
She looks into the swarthy sky –
is that his face?
Are those his eyes
in dimples
where the sun shines through?
Are those his arms
that beckon her?
Or are they just the eagle’s wings
pointing out deep veins of gold,
those caves
where dreamers meet?
.
© 2012 Betty Hayes Albright
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Oh, Betty! how did you know a Mayberrie poem was just what I needed today?? I was planning to visit your archives to find one–but apparently our muses were singing to one another! Thank you so much!! love, Caddo SOS
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Thank you, Caddo!
(I wrote this today instead of catching up with reading blogs – it’s hard to make that choice sometimes, but the muse was insistent.)
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This realm expands in all directions.
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Ben, thanks – your insight is always right on.
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Just lovely imagery within the poem…so much can be seen in the sky.
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Thank you, Charlie – glad you liked the imagery! 🙂
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Beautiful and dreamy.
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Thank you, Jeglatter! 🙂
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Beautiful imagery Betty. A pleasure to read 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, Norma – I always appreciate your comments! 🙂
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Betty , You write with a rare richness the imagry in this poem is captivating, lifts me up makes me circle in the sky, and then reel in a lovers heart swollen with tears yet to cry ….
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Grandfathersky, I’m so glad you liked this – thank you! (Alas, I need to catch up with YOUR blog. No time lately to both write and read, but will visit your latest poetry soon.)
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Hi Betty
To fly on the wings of an eagle, even a metaphorical one, that would be so nice!… lovely! 🙂
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Thank you very much, Ina! 🙂
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Wonderfully timely and mysterious imagery, Betty.
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David, thank you!! 🙂
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Whenever you write a mayberrie poem your muse gets busy and fires up your synapses and sends electrical/chemical signals buzzing through your brain, Betty.
She hears it [the eagle] break
the barriers
of space and hook…
This particular three lines alerts the reader that they are encountering something unusual. The barriers of space and hook? The hook we assume are the hooks of talons, the fierce tools the eagle uses to hunt and kill with, the part of the eagle that is the most valuable to him in his quest to survive. The barriers of space speaks of the physical space where we are at at the moment, or the space beyond the horizons of our planet.
And then the lines:
wishes she could fly its wings
and soar beyond the borders
to where he mines his dreams.
So the lover she longs for is not with her, but somewhere beyond borders where he left to mine his dreams. What felicitous phrasing!
The second stanza is about “she” and her reactions.
All she ever wants
is just to make him smile,
But now a mountain of “of fences, walls and broken gates” stands between them. This line hints that it is not only physical space that is between them, but all kinds of different barriers. The genius in this line is that it leads the reader to construct emotional as well as physical barriers in their mind as an explanation for the unexplained separation.
Then the final stanza, the symphony of longing and imagination. The lover is not here, but in the swarthy sky, the break in the clouds where the sun shines through,
…the eagle’s wings
pointing out deep veins of gold,
those caves
where dreamers meet?
Why you are not a famous poet who I would be afraid to approach if I happened to see you in the airport, a situation that I have encountered many a time, is beyond me, Betty. For the fun of your poetry as well as its romantic, soaring, clever, imaginative meaning and content. Why aren’t you famous? Or are you and I’m so lost in the wilds of New Mexico that I just don’t know it?
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Thomas, again I’m overwhelmed by your generous and encouraging words. (No, not famous that I know of – and not sure I’d want to be. 🙂 All I need from writing poetry is to know there was communication between the poem and the reader – that it speaks to others – someone, somewhere.)
About that “hook” – you’re right, it does refer to the eagle’s talons – and also to the hooks of time/space limitation.
My deepest appreciation for your insightful and perceptive thoughts, Thomas – thank you again!
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It’s funny how we are when we’ve aged a bit. I wouldn’t want to be famous anymore either, although I dreamed of making a splash as a poet and writer when young. Now I’m appreciative when other people let me know that they have read my work and see some small value in it.
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I am more and more enchanted over time with this Mayberrie series of yours. The heroine is so stalwart, so adventurous–willing to risk much to be rejoined with the beloved–at least in spirit! To think of his arms bearing her up like the eagle’s wings would do–wonderful metaphor for how we seek the Ultimate Love and how we know we need to be lifted up by The One!
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Thank you, Granbee – and yes, “rejoined with the beloved – at least in spirit…” That’s it!
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I know what it’s like to look for your love in all places and things…to feel his presence everywhere around you, but also nowhere around you. There is a sadness to this poem.
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Anna, thank you for your insight and empathy.
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Betty, this has a dreamy, yet, melancholy feel to it, but just lovely, as always~xx
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Thank you once again, Lauren. 🙂
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I got caught up in reading the exchange between you and Thomas and was so glad I did, as it certainly puts the creative process in the perspective of how sharing is so much more important than ‘succeeding’.
And, this poem, itself–another slice of a magical and lyrical story about how what we love is everywhere, even when it isn’t physically with us.
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