for Stacey

There upon the staircase

On All Hallowed night a clown

you sat

pensive, tasting

something your excursion got,

Costumed red, yellow, green and white

Ruffled collar, quiet face

Blue eyed, golden hair curled

in thoughts.

When I at distance watched

And wonder whelmed by you,

Became your certained father

By uncertain struck.

Love lit, glad and sad.

Glad – that you are.

Sad – that helpless I may be,

When hapless happens,

And I cannot

Be there always

when it’s me you want.

or to know what and how,

To be enduringly,

For you

The person I imagine

You trust that I will be.

— ArrowWords, Nov 20, 2008

About This Poem

About the Author

Country/Region: CAN

Favorite Poets: Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Leonard Cohen, Constantine Cavafy

Critiques

Arrow

17 years 6 months ago

This packs an emotional punch.

You've made it so easy to see the trusting child on the stairs and the anxiety of the father-hero that must inevitably disappoint. I love this line: Love lit, glad and sad. So true! Yet, the language bothers me in places b/c it seems a little over-done for the simplicity (in the best sense of the word) of the feelings, e.g., Glad – that you be. Sad – helpless I to be, or And imagine I cannot. Maybe that's just me. I'm interested in what others think about this. All in all, I like it a great deal. I hope you save it for your daughter.

ArrowWords

17 years 6 months ago

for Stacey

Hi, Thanks for your comments. I made a few changes. When the words get in the way that is not what they are for. Cheers, Don

Kailashana

17 years 6 months ago

A unique writing style,

A unique writing style, arrow words... i love your picture sans shoes/socks... I love the line "wonder whelmed by you". Cheers... I'm off to read your other works. ~A "Speech is blasphemy. Silence a lie. Above speech and silence is a way out." I-tuan.

weirdelf

17 years 6 months ago

This really works for me,

This really works for me, emotively, evocatively, stylisticly BUT not the lack of a space after commas and stops, that cramps it, nastily, to me, cheers, Jess

Arrow

17 years 6 months ago

I think that's a computer glitch.

It didn't used to look like that and I saw that happen to some other poems.

weirdelf

17 years 6 months ago

mmm, interesting, haven’t

mmm, interesting, haven't encountered that glitch before, things happen copying and pasting from Word, needs fixing though. cheers, Jess

ArrowWords

17 years 6 months ago

Spacing

I find that this happens when I copy from word. Sometimes even when I insert the spaces again they disappear in the published version. It is odd because the spaces were there in my preview.