Hidden Pieces of the Puzzle Rediscovered
Late one evening as I was looking at various posts on Facebook, I came across a poem that at once, captivated my interest......and heart. It hit as spontaneously as a strike of lightening. I read it once, and I read it again. I immediately looked to see who its creator was. I had never heard of him.
In that instant that it took me to read the poem, I remembered that in my youth I had loved poetry. I read it for enjoyment in elementary school. Throughout high school it became a near obsession......the dark Annabelle Lee by Poe, the beauty of Frost's A Road Not Taken, and my favorite, Stopping By The Woods On a Snowy Evening. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways.....the time of adolescence and romance and being in love with love. There are hundreds of others, far too many to swoon over here. Oh blessed English class when we devoted a grading period to poetry! In my twenties I was enamored with everything Rod McKuen penned. I can't remember how I ever discovered him, as back then, there was no internet. During that time, I fell in love and on the second date, my love handed me a gift beautifully wrapped. I thought it was so strange because he didn't know me well enough to know what I liked and what I disliked. I opened it, and the first "sign" that this was the man that was picked for me, became suddenly apparent. It was Rod McKuen's book of poetry, Listen to the Warm. We had only been out twice, and I never mentioned anything about poetry. I love that book.
Life ebbed and flowed, and I was a mother of two children. In my late thirties, my children were growing up and reading and my daughter received Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree from one of her friends as a birthday gift. I loved the story! I went to my favorite book store and discovered he wrote another called Where The Sidewalk Ends. I was hooked. I suppose as my daughter matured and entered college, it came as no shock she became an English major.
Years passed.......and I forgot about poetry. Life in all it's ferocious force took over. I had no time for much of what I loved, and work took over my life. The love of writing since I was a child had fallen by the wayside, along with my love of poetry. How can that be? How can the things that fuel your soul get lost in the quicksand of necessary, but to the heart and soul, meaningless aspects of life? What else is hidden, deep within my soul that I don't even recognize as being lost?
If I had not come upon this most lovely work of art......I may have lost this love forever. The young man that wrote the poem is a member on Facebook, and I contacted him to tell him how beautiful his thoughts were and deep into his soul I could see by his words. It was profound and so beautiful. He is a poet in the States, and he has self published several books. He told me if I ever wanted to order his book, to let him know and he would sign it for me. I don't know this young man, but I have seen something of his heart, and his soul. Quite beautiful. I am so thankful that I came across his poem, and remembered my love of poetry.
And all of this realization brought me back to missing pieces of the puzzle. We as humans are complex creatures. Our hearts and minds and souls are comprised of so many treasures. In our youth, they are beautiful new discoveries of things that connect us to things of beauty. We discover what we love. What we don't. But as we grow older, too often the necessities of life crowd those things of beauty out. Things that give us joy, and wings are saddled down by life's problems and worries and livelihood. And like delicate petals of a rose, they are bruised and crushed. It's like having the gift of a beautiful puzzle, but we've lost pieces along the years and we can't put it together as a whole again.
I found a big piece to the puzzle of me. I am going to cherish that piece and make sure I will never lose it again. In fact, the first thing I am going to do is order the book of poetry from the young man I spoke with........and then go through the massive collection of books I have collected during my lifetime, and reread McKuen's Listen To The Warm. And I'll fall in love with poetry all over again. This time, not in the heady experience of youth, but in the embers of life and experience. Take inventory. Make sure you haven't lost or misplaced any pieces of your puzzle.
Years passed.......and I forgot about poetry. Life in all it's ferocious force took over. I had no time for much of what I loved, and work took over my life. The love of writing since I was a child had fallen by the wayside, along with my love of poetry. How can that be? How can the things that fuel your soul get lost in the quicksand of necessary, but to the heart and soul, meaningless aspects of life? What else is hidden, deep within my soul that I don't even recognize as being lost?
If I had not come upon this most lovely work of art......I may have lost this love forever. The young man that wrote the poem is a member on Facebook, and I contacted him to tell him how beautiful his thoughts were and deep into his soul I could see by his words. It was profound and so beautiful. He is a poet in the States, and he has self published several books. He told me if I ever wanted to order his book, to let him know and he would sign it for me. I don't know this young man, but I have seen something of his heart, and his soul. Quite beautiful. I am so thankful that I came across his poem, and remembered my love of poetry.
And all of this realization brought me back to missing pieces of the puzzle. We as humans are complex creatures. Our hearts and minds and souls are comprised of so many treasures. In our youth, they are beautiful new discoveries of things that connect us to things of beauty. We discover what we love. What we don't. But as we grow older, too often the necessities of life crowd those things of beauty out. Things that give us joy, and wings are saddled down by life's problems and worries and livelihood. And like delicate petals of a rose, they are bruised and crushed. It's like having the gift of a beautiful puzzle, but we've lost pieces along the years and we can't put it together as a whole again.
I found a big piece to the puzzle of me. I am going to cherish that piece and make sure I will never lose it again. In fact, the first thing I am going to do is order the book of poetry from the young man I spoke with........and then go through the massive collection of books I have collected during my lifetime, and reread McKuen's Listen To The Warm. And I'll fall in love with poetry all over again. This time, not in the heady experience of youth, but in the embers of life and experience. Take inventory. Make sure you haven't lost or misplaced any pieces of your puzzle.
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