avatarBradley J Nordell

Summary

"Enfolding the Heart of Loss" is a contemplative poem that reflects on the interconnectedness of shared human experiences, the nature of love, and the existential fears that accompany life's journey.

Abstract

The poem "Enfolding the Heart of Loss" delves into the themes of shared suffering and the wholeness of compassion, drawing parallels between the natural world and human emotions. It ponders the reality of loss and the bitterness it leaves, recalling moments of reflection and questioning the origin of pain in relationships. The narrative touches on the cyclical nature of love and life, the fear of non-existence, and the concept of a collective consciousness that encompasses both sin and virtue. The poem suggests that our personal pain is a microcosm of the world's suffering, embedded within us like a leaf inside a seed. It also explores the idea that humanity might be cultivating its own demise through fear and regret, and concludes with a call to embrace the dream of escaping the pain of reality.

Opinions

  • The poet muses on the possibility that human love and suffering are as natural and predetermined as the movements of swans following evolutionary algorithms.
  • There is a sense of fatalism in the poem, with the speaker contemplating the inevitability of their place in the "city of mirrors," lost and reflective.
  • The poem conveys a fear of being inconsequential, a mere shadow of an afterthought in the grand scheme of existence.
  • It questions whether human actions, driven by fear of failure, are leading to a self-fulfilled apocalypse.
  • The poet suggests that our collective pain is intrinsically linked to the suffering of the world, potentially influencing our decisions and actions.
  • The poem offers a glimpse of hope, inviting the reader to dream of an escape into a state of peaceful non-existence, free from feeling.
  • The author, Bradley J Nordell, presents a deeply philosophical view of human emotion and existence, weaving together themes of loss, love, and the fear of oblivion.

Enfolding the Heart of Loss

A poem about shared suffering and the wholeness of compassion

Photo by Nastya Dulhiier on Unsplash

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night wondering if it was all a dream But I know, only reality taste this bitter.

The folds of the blanket remind me of those clouds at the picnic, when we watched the swans drift across the pond following evolutionary’s blind algorithm, wondering if that, too, is love.

And did you also question, who dropped the first stone, in our sinusoidal love story? Collapsing it all, into a single genus-one manifold of sin and virtue.

In the curves of your lips time runs down, these jagged years. And yet in a creaking wooden chair, the ghost of my uncle sits taking away, love and clarity betting my soul, at a table with the devil — and I roam now, lost in the city of mirrors.

I fear not death nor infinity nor the null of divinity, but never existing at all. I fear being a shadow of an empty afterthought in the tired eye of Eath’s magnetic soul.

I fear the maze, you know the one, because we stand there now, in the eternal center a place without boundaries or borders a rotating cathedral circle as we arrive again, at our emulated blasphemous choices.

Is all our pain, enfolded from the suffering of the world? Like a leaf inside a seed yet grown? In a cell before the baptism before the quiet house becomes too loud, with regret.

Have we grown death from the fertile lands of the heart? In fear of failure, we decree the apocalypse upon the future? to a species weeping the will o’ wisp, banshee seeping and screaming, into the soil, of our graveyard tales I know not, the moon’s final cycle.

Listen… Listen… to the enfolding of reality, implicate being of one and dream my love O! dream of your escape in wild reddened poppy fields to sleep to hope to feel not a thing.

© Bradley J Nordell 2020

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Poetry
Suffering
Cosmic
Compassion
Loss
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