A Dance with Emotions
Do emotions lead my life?
Like sadness when it drips
along my body like honey
sweet and sticky,
sifted from memories
of times spent living
close to the stars and crashing waves,
broken on the shore,
then drawn away by the outgoing tide.
Do emotions lead my life?
Like keys of a piano
unlocking my heart,
igniting the fire within.
Burning the mundane,
I bury its ashes.
Embers of beauty still smoulder
as I walk on stilts
above the bodies
of frozen ghosts—
feeling fiery and free.
Do emotions lead my life?
When I watch the state
of a weeping world,
the tears of men merging
into an ever-swelling sea,
where predators ruled by greed
strike with their tentacles
like an inkfish,
staining my spirit,
clouding me
with anxiety and anger.
Do emotions lead my life?
When I build dreams on water,
where words drift
their syllables
intimate secrets
woven into patterns
like petals around a pistil.
A soft yellow glow
reveals a joy
resembling the sun.
Do emotions lead my life?
Often, I tiptoe around them
until they sweep me off my feet,
until I fall into it
full face again.
It is far better to have your life filled with being swept off ones feet than moping in the corner as you regret the advances you turned down. However it is our life to live and we have no-one but ourselves to blame if we don't see the gifts of a potential lover rather than their faults.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's a wasted life if we don't feel our emotions fully.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely way to write about emotions, Marja! I like the repetition, and especially love the lines:
ReplyDelete‘Like keys of the piano
unlock my heart
turn on the fire inside’
and
‘I walk on stilts
above the bodies
of the frozen ghosts
feeling fiery and free’.
I know that tiptoeing around emotions, it always ends up with me tripping over my own feet.
"where predators ruled by greed
ReplyDeletestrike out with their tentacles
like an ink fish"
My favourite image of your poem today
Happy Sunday
Much💗love
'living close to the stars" That sounds so wonderful. Frozen ghosts feel extra cold.
ReplyDeleteHi Marja - beautiful post ... we live with our emotions day in, day out and really should learn to embrace them ... wonderful phrases you've used here ... just what we need right now. Take care - Hilary
ReplyDeleteThe caution of the question sweeps right into the overwhelming; these lines were relatable and felt.
ReplyDeleteYou can tiptoe all you like, but...
ReplyDeleteAwesome work, Marja!
To fully/completely feel emotion is a gift .. one we should never take for granted. Every emotion, positive/negative/frightening/loving. I enjoyed your poem!!
ReplyDeleteEmotions are a huge part of a full life. I like how that thought is expressed here, how the speaker explores her feelings and actions over and over... before getting to a closing that suggests emotions will never be denied. I really love those last few lines. So much truth in there.
ReplyDelete"I walk on stilts above the bodies of frozen ghosts" has to be one of the most beautifully descriptive phrases I've ever read! This is a beautiful write!
ReplyDeleteYes, emotions do lead our life. We all have feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, joy in our daily existence.
ReplyDeleteDancing is one of the powerful and most beautiful expressions of our emotions.
I guess we live with them, side by side. Saddens is so sticky!
ReplyDeleteOnce again a lovely poem.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletewouldn't it be a wasted life if we don't live with emotions? what would we be if we do not know happiness, ecstasy, grief, anger, even fear (fear is a survival mechanism)?
that's an interesting question, "Do emotions lead my life?", and i think you answer it so eloquently in the poem's last stanza. :)
Such an extraordinary phrase: "the frozen ghosts feeling fiery and free". Such a well-written piece.
ReplyDeleteWhilst we live with our emotions, we don't always embrace them, and too easily misread them . A delightful yet thought-provoking piece Marja.
ReplyDeleteSadness as honey is a thought-provoking comparison.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome poem Marja - A dance with emotions!
ReplyDeleteOur emotions help to guide the decisions that we make every minute of our lives. The world around us (and the thoughts in our heads) trigger emotional reactions all the time.
So of course emotions do lead our lives......and dancing with our emotions sounds like fun.
Namaste
Peggy xxxxx
Do emotions lead my life? My short answer is "Yes, to a large extent. But then what if those emotions die, "swept ... to the sea?" That will be the time to get practical.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marja, for peeking in on me. I do think taking notes set a visual experience helping me to learn. I am dyslexic to a livable extent.
..
Emotions, Oh I run on them. Sometimes I fly and sometimes I fall like a rock. Love your poem!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful words and feelings. I think 2020 has been an emotion filled year, at least here with the political climate, the raging virus. Even people who usually are not emotive had to feel the emotion. Now let’s hope that in 2021 we will have more peaceful emotions – and happy ones too.
ReplyDeleteDo emotions lead my life?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I try to keep them in check. There far too much wild unbridled, and illogical emotions around me to allow my own much free rein. There is a cost for my emotional distance, but I've seen too many people destroy themselves and others when their emotions become destructive.
This doesn't take anything away from your beautiful poem.