Up from the Roses
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Dear broken-hearted one ...
Think on the tale of Shalott
Tennyson’s heroine
So winsome and tragic
Lost to the hollow echoes
of romantic murmurs
Lay back, coaxed Lancelot
Trust your head to my bed of roses
Petals withered and decayed
Shalott met with grasping hands
No thorns, but nails ever sharper
Scars left, much deeper
Lay back, said the prince-who-was-not
Shade yourself under my sheltering parasol
Escape the sun and its sweltering heat
Let’s take respite together
Canopied from the light
No rain but tears; she felt
Bleach burns and chemical blisters
Abandoned and alone
Shalott became the rose worth twice
What she felled her life for
Dry your tears ...
Do not sacrifice yourself
To a seductive, dark spectre
Nurture your strength
Embody insight and wisdom
Bleed not the wounds of delusion
Come now, broken-hearted one
It's time you got up from the roses
Digital art is composite of images found in the public domain.
https://pixabay.com/en/china-memoirs-of-a-geisha-parasols-1194135/
https://pixabay.com/en/model-statue-sculpture-women-2193153/
John William Waterhouse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_of_Shalott
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those Romantics...idealizing isolation. As I often say, no one takes anything from the desert but isolation and monsters. Nicely done
Thank you, John:)
I have loved The Lady of Shalott a very long time, what a classic of classics!
Long ago and far away I was in a small little art film cast as her as I resemble the Waterhouse version of her visage.
This is truly a notable write and for me is perhaps my chosen favorite of your offerings thus far (and that is saying quite a lot as you are on high with the gift).
Bravo!
I am honoured. Thank you, Mamadini.
This is a stunning piece well done
Thank you, tygertyger:)
Brilliant @prydefoltz
👍🤓
Thank you, Moon:)
All I can say is wow...outstanding verse.
Thank you, yrretel:)
It's time you got up from the roses...
What a stirring exhortation to the broken hearted to mend, and live... The language is both gorgeous and painful.
I love the way
Canopied from the light
No rain but tears; she felt
Bleach burns and chemical blisters
evokes that sense of rawness, exposure that heartbreak can bring. So beautifully written, and the artwork is equally incredible!
Thank you, Bennet. The artwork I created for another poem and then that poem went off in another direction. I was left thinking that digital art reminded me of the Lady of Shalott and voila a verse is born. That last line came about because I couldn't think of a title that didn't sound trite. The Warerhouse addition was a no brainer and just happened to compliment the last line. Funny how these things turn out. I am honoured by your words:):):)
Isn't it interesting the stairstepping that can happen with creative work... sometimes I've had a song that I write a line for... the line doesn't fit, so I leave it out of the song. Then later I end up writing a whole new song based on the misfit line! :D
It is wonderful ... and open mind and time is usually all that is needed:)
This is so amazing
Thank you, Toknex:)
Hello @prydefoltz the depth of the poetry left me speechless.
I only know that she is beautiful. Greetings.
Thank you, cordero:)
An intriguing write… and pointed response to Tennyson’s tragic heroine
Thank you, Denise. I always felt that Tennyson sympathized with his heroine. But didn't you always want to shake her and go 'Girl, he's just not worth it1"
Yes. That was true of most fictional heroines of the day, I think.
And we wonder where we get some of silly ideas from:)
I quite enjoyed this, @prydefoltz, and the voice of gentle authority with which we, sometimes, speak to ourselves... when we linger overlong in one of pain's classrooms, and miss life's next lesson.
The pain's classroom ... yes that is a good way to look at it. Thank you:) Yahia:)
✨🙏🏼💫
I'm glad someone finally had the courage to tell Shalott it is time to move on , thanks for being the one to say what everyone was thinking, but no one was offering!
On a more serious note, this is gorgeous. That last line is a breath taker (or giver, as the context may be ^_^)
much appreciated some of your retelling elements, poignant like:
Haha ... the deliver of tough love. That's me:) But tell me about it. She has been brooding about the place forever. Now, I'll leave it to you to break it to Byron he can't date his sister.
Thanks for the humour, Carmalain, and the compliment.