I was just looking through the files on my computer, searching for an essay I once wrote and saved there, when I came across this old poem. To say I had completely forgotten about it would be an understatement; as I read it over, it felt as if I were reading it for the first time. It must have been one of those things I wrote hurriedly without really caring where it would end up. And it ended up on my screen today.
I thought I would share..
GONE
Hannah Rozenblat
You do not see a thing as you look at me.
All that your eyes can perceive is a body
chest slowly rising and falling as I breathe
and my eyes looking steadily back at you.
All you see is a body, an empty shell
Sitting perfectly still right in front of you.
But you do not see me for I am not there
And am far away where I cannot be found.
“So,” you triumphantly observe, “You are here.”
Briefly looking up from your papers at me
And I stare back at you, my eyes two windows
Only you are too blind and cannot see through.
I was never there before in any sense
But now that you have forced me to be present
You must be satisfied that my body’s there
For my soul is not, nor will it ever be.
My soul is meanwhile traveling through the world
Too far for you to ever find and pin down
Too fast for you to be able to tame it
And too strong to ever be coerced by you.
You measure success as a naive child would
Lightly, with no idea of its measure
And seeing the motionless body before you
You think that you have captured and tamed the soul.
Yes, I sit without protest day after day
My eyes meeting yours as you look straight at me
And nod approvingly because I am there…
Only I am not and you just cannot see.
Hannah Rozenblat
You do not see a thing as you look at me.
All that your eyes can perceive is a body
chest slowly rising and falling as I breathe
and my eyes looking steadily back at you.
All you see is a body, an empty shell
Sitting perfectly still right in front of you.
But you do not see me for I am not there
And am far away where I cannot be found.
“So,” you triumphantly observe, “You are here.”
Briefly looking up from your papers at me
And I stare back at you, my eyes two windows
Only you are too blind and cannot see through.
I was never there before in any sense
But now that you have forced me to be present
You must be satisfied that my body’s there
For my soul is not, nor will it ever be.
My soul is meanwhile traveling through the world
Too far for you to ever find and pin down
Too fast for you to be able to tame it
And too strong to ever be coerced by you.
You measure success as a naive child would
Lightly, with no idea of its measure
And seeing the motionless body before you
You think that you have captured and tamed the soul.
Yes, I sit without protest day after day
My eyes meeting yours as you look straight at me
And nod approvingly because I am there…
Only I am not and you just cannot see.
This entry was posted
on Monday, July 20, 2009
at Monday, July 20, 2009
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