The Wait




Johnson Matthey : Platinum Today's image library
Wikimedia Commons


This piece was written between a diagnosis and a death.  For my friend.


hovering
in abeyance
circling
in patterns
waiting
upon changes
without control
prayers
plunder
all asking
for an easing
for comfort
for more life
for death
sometimes for both

a white curtain
flutters
gauze-like
and as the wind whips by
it presses cloth
into eyes
into navel
into the crevice between legs
the gauze
a shroud
on a summer’s day


copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2012

posted for Dverse





I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Poetry Blogs.

Comments

  1. Very sad. The last stanza is very poignant, leaving nothing at all in its vivid imagery to be wondered at the outcome. For the depth of sadness involved it the loss, it is still a beautiful write for your friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. filled with deep melancholy and sadness..yet so magnificent..a sparkling verse indeed..thank you for sharing~~

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just wrote a poem of this title, Audrey--and though it has a different sort of subject matter, it is also about the contradictory and helpless sorts of feelings and responses to pain, loss, life and death that come,...this moment, this place of suspended being you capture here is finely drawn and also has great impact, line by line, as we float through that void between states, powerless, just...waiting. My condolences on your loss.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I could really FEEL this poem. I understand well asking for life, for death, for both. The ending...the gauze a shroud...took my breath away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow intense and vivid....def felt everyone of your words...and in some way lived it vicariously through others but taken there once more by you....

    ReplyDelete
  6. really brought tears to my eyes...so sorry for the loss of your friend...so hard to see someone you love suffer so much..the waiting, hoping and not knowing what to pray.. the closure made me hold my breath..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Claudia! Both for the kindness in your words as well as for reading the piece--

      Delete
  7. Whew...a felt piece. You captured the "hovering" so well, and the last half was so moving. A great write.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sad when they go and they suffer so much, can relate to the just wanting death to come already as it would be less painful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As it is with so many--thank you Pat! Greatly appreciated!

      Delete
  9. Very intense poem - how things change so quickly - so sad. I have had three very close friends die of cancer - all my age - it is not something that one gets over easily; and of course, one's own loss feels small thinking about the life they are not getting to live. It's just terribly sad. Beautiful poem. k.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This all happened relatively quickly--sometimes I think people reach a point of acceptance early--Thank you for reading and commenting--so very much appreciated!

      Delete
  10. Intense emotions here...I can feel the hovering, the asking for comfort, between life and death ~

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry for your loss...sad and intense write !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lovely words, lovely capture. Very sad and I can relate. Piece I wrote last week was for my sister-in-law who is in this limbo, this stasis state. Feeling fair these days, but knowing that the cancer grows and there is no cure. Wishing peace to you on your loss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember your piece from last week--my thoughts to you and your siser-in-law---

      Delete
  13. ...sometimes for both.

    Full of emotion this poem. Tightly written, but echoes and echoes within me. Thank you, for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The white curtain as gauze as shroud....all chilling images for me! The second stanza is tight - would stand alone as its own superior piece of poetry. Nice work!

    ReplyDelete
  15. this poem is really expressive..unfortunately i know all too well from illness...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you chnzibrenner--and I am sorry that you too are suffering--

      Delete
  16. This implies the unsaid - what is life for? is death better when there is suffering? how much pain must we endure when there is loss? is death the worst of the many losses we face each day? and have we given enough joy to one another in the course of a single life? for in the end it is about how much of life brought joy, not pain. Exquisite.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Amazingly visceral, emotionally engaging, and true. My heart goes out to you.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Poignant and melancholy, colored with both hope and resignation. A heartfelt poem.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Audrey, really outstanding how your words cast such a wide net of emotion. To be able to convey such emotion is such a style is very impressive and really nicely done. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Very, very moving.. an intense experience, amplified for me by the slim formatting and the image. You record the complexity with such sad starkness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Becky--I feel most for his family--he was so loved by everyone who knew him!

      Delete
  21. Really moving words, Audrey. I'm so sorry that it stems from reality. Hugs.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Quiet, poignant and real. So often, such a piece can slip into the maudlin. You have done a marvelous job of expressing the images and feelings here, Audrey.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Intense and sad! Matters of life and death often not discussed but conveniently avoided.Very testing! Nice write Audrey!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you kaykuala! Not often discussed--but in the room nonetheless---Thank you so much---

      Delete
  24. So sorry for your loss. Beautiful writing, though, really.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Audrey, this is poignant, yes, I have been where you are more than I have wanted to be. I am so sorry for your loss. You have penned a beautiful poem as a result of your pain.

    Pamela

    ReplyDelete
  26. Heartbreaking. Literally gave me shivers as I was reading. So sorry for your loss, Audrey.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Very well expressed. Sad, but beautifully written.

    ReplyDelete
  28. touching and vivid expression. ~ Rose

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hello, Audrey
    I love your blog and this post is so sad yet uplifting, if that person has you to write about such an experience so similar to the one I had with my late brother a few years ago.... death is a difficult thing tyo accept and welcome, yet, as we can do nothing about it we should find a way to see the possitive sideof it
    Thanks for your visit to my blog

    Hugs

    Dulce

    ReplyDelete
  30. You write about death so well. Sorry for the loss.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Beautiful, respectful and vivid. This is exquisite work. I am sure the experience is more than I could imagine. You have honored your friend wonderfully.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate your comments and thoughts--thank you for stopping by! I don't always reply here, but always try to reciprocate--so hang in there, I will be over to your blog in a jiffy!

Popular Posts