The Silent Love Song of Marina Abramovic

I Walked An Hundred, Hundred-Thousand Steps,
To give you the good-bye I could not speak.
Atop the Great Wall, you and I, Opposites,
Ascending and Descending,
For six-thousand-five-hundred-and-eighty-five miles
 (and a half)…
Have met
To say
Good-Bye,

But I could not speak it,
And all
My arms, my lips, my body
Could say to you, was:  'Please, don't go!
Don't go!  It isn't time
to say Good-Bye!'

And then, today, I sit, and offer
Sixty seconds of sweet silence, 
For every one of a soft procession of faces...
Only my breath, my breath and my softness
(Beneath the stone)

An almost smile for this one,
And an almost penetrating look for that…
That one, I could almost read…
And then, my breath is gone!

YOU!

And Have You come from worlds away, to taunt me, like an errant ghost?  Or to tell me
…something?

I would shake!  (If I was a woman who shook) but instead,
I spread the broad red of my dress, about to sit down…
…Oh… how ODD…  I AM sitting down…
And Hope, or Sorrow, or Loss, Brims,
And I cannot hold back the crystalline drops
That will only shatter
Against the hard red of my dress – is it blood?  Or is it Roses?
And…  Against my will, I stretch to you my hands,
And…  The curve in my back is still supple,
And…  I take your Old hands, grown old, and known of old.

How to embrace across a TABLE? I cry out to myself,
And so,
I do not.

But every vibrating atom of me yearns for you!
I would shake!  (If I could)

You see, I was not the One Who Wanted To Say Good-Bye!

And now you’re here!  And…

It’s Good-Bye, again, isn’t it?

And now, I will shake!  (I am not a woman who shakes)
And…  Weep!

O!  Hands!

Receive!  These tender jewels ere they reach
The welcoming red, the hard red, the shattering-my-dreams-again-today red,

And I must return to the soft procession of faces,
Who now know everything…
Just...
Everything… but… WHY?
Copyright © | Year Posted 2018

Poem

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

La France Avatar
January 1, 2019 at 10:47 PM
Andrew, wow, this poem is really beautiful, it touched me deeply, not sure what Line wants but I hope she she likes this ~
Fairchild Avatar
January 2, 2019 at 1:16 AM
Thank you so much! I am overjoyed to hear it! Praise God! She only wanted 25 lines or less, and I just could NOT cut half of it away and have left, what my heart needed to say.
Fairchild Avatar
December 29, 2018 at 9:13 PM
All thanks to Line Gauthier, who sponsored a contest about Marina Abramovic, and this poem is just too darn long, and will be spoiled if I cut it to shreds. Anyway, fun to write.
Awtry Avatar
December 29, 2018 at 10:40 PM
DARN! This is grippingly painful, "And I cannot hold back the crystalline drops/That will only shatter/Against the hard red of my dress" Poetry :)
Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace