The city vibrant,
loud and familiar.
The moon watches over us
knowingly lighting our way.
A homeless man,
laying on the ground
holding a cup
while he recites poetry
about a yellow canoe.
Schizophrenic or prehaps
he is saner than all of us.
His voice loud and clear
yet gentle.
I am filled with emotion,
tears well up
of old wounds
I have forgotten.
At the museum
we explore the beauty,
a little boy
weeps
while he hangs on his mother's arm
as if he was drowing
and she is his life preserver.
My thoughts drift
to sleepless nights,
restless days.
I look away and
fight the tears
because I love you more
than you can ever understand.
Our time brief,
this is where I want to be
in this beautiful city that
you call home.
You work from ten to seven
all night
caring for humanity
while the moon crawls to greet me
through the window.
I sleep and dream
of my wide eyed boy
tending to those never cared for
uprooted and lost.
The past is calling
but I choose today
I choose this moment
bittersweet yet glorious.
At dVerse Abhra has us writing about places around the world where we want to be, for me it was Boston for a brief visit with my son and my future daughter in law. I am sharing a link to my interview with the lovely Laurie Kolp at dVerse yesterday. http://dversepoets.com/2014/06/16/pretzels-bullfights-spotlights-ayala-zarfjian/
thanks for a great interview...smiles.
ReplyDeleteand i think i want to sit and listen to the homeless man a bit
cause i sometimes think they might be a bit saner than the rest anyway.
smiles...and i will take today, anyday as well...
Yes....and thank you Brian! :)
Deleteloved your interview!
ReplyDeleteThank you !
DeleteCould be saner indeed haha sure helping all, but yuck to those hours
ReplyDelete:) Yes...yuck to all those hours :)
DeleteI really see another dimension in your writing after reading the interview.. I can clearly see the need of staying in the here and now.. sounds like you had a wonderful time with your son...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I did...I am happy just to be with him even though he insisted on entertaining me .
DeleteI am like Björn. Yesterday's interview adds a new dimension to your poem. I was moved by what the mother and little boy evoked for you and enjoyed the subtle portrait you drew of your son in this poem.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gabriella. It gave me a moment of reflection and it was bittersweet. I am grateful yet sometimes it's hard......
DeleteDefinitely a bittersweet moment beautifully captured.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Vanessa. :)
Deletesmiles... a lovely interview... and sometimes i think some of the homeless are indeed saner than us... lovely that your boy is doing such an awesome job in caring for the sick and injured
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree... :) and thank you, Claudia.
DeleteYes..loved this - so tender so sweet. I, too, love Boston - my deceased husband loved it much - He went to MIT and we would go on July 4th for the fireworks and the patriotism.. it was our wedding anniversary as well. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSounds amazing...Boston so beautiful !
DeleteA stream of sincere words - very nice.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteLovely poem, and I loved your interview yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I appreciate it.
DeleteBittersweet and glorious describes this piece! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jenny.
DeleteThank you, Jenny.
DeleteYes, you capture a bittersweet moment so very well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Freya.
DeleteLove the humanity that you infuse in describing the homeless man. Well done, Ayala.
ReplyDeleteI am off now to check out your interview.
Thank you, Rudri. I appreciate what you said about my dad. xoxo
DeleteBittersweet glorious true!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3
Thank you, Cloudia.
DeleteYes... no doubt he was saner than all of us... and ugh, ya know it's that easy... choose today; so simple... It's us who make it
ReplyDeletecomplicated. The past can have a loud scream at times, but the now, the present will always be the loudest - if you listen, not just hear.
True..the present the loudest if we listen to it. I like that. :)
DeleteHow totally lovely. It feels that each one that is "here" is home--the homeless man with the poem, the mother and son in the museum, the past with your son and the present. It is so important to choose here and now! Thank you, and once again for the interview.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan both for this and the interview comment. Lovely thoughts here.
DeleteSo poignant - home is indeed where the people we love are... we can make a home anywhere as long as we have them. Lovely and made me all thoughtful and emotional!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marina. Yes...home is definitely with the ones we love.
DeleteLaurie always does a masterful job with those interviews; thanks for sharing so much with the rest of us; and yes, we must see beneath, behind, within those folks others do not recognize, or acknowledge; something so very maternal about this poem, made me miss my own mother, long past away, but never forgotten.
ReplyDeleteSweet that it made you think of your mom. I am touched. I had a friend in his seventies and his mother passed away when she was over ninety and he wept like a little boy when he told me. No matter how old we are or how long it's been since our parents passed, I believe that we remember and long for them.
Deletea beautiful and comforting place to be &your wonderful interview definitely add more to this spontaneous flow...a lovely write Ayala....
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sumana. You are kind.
DeleteBeautiful, free-flowing and heart-warming - a lovely world you create Ayala. Great piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Abhra.
DeleteGr8 home is where we start life and the best place to be.,
ReplyDeleteThe best!
DeleteFrom the opening to the closing, such a beautiful case for living in the moment--"bittersweet yet glorious."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer.
DeleteHe sounds like a fine man who reflects his mother's caring ways.
ReplyDeleteA profound poem Ayala
Thank you, Leslie. :)
DeleteMy heart started beating faster with the closing stanza and your choice to choose the here and now. Incredible closing Ayala.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Keith . :)
Deletewonderful details in this... family is so home
ReplyDeleteYes..family is home-thanks.
DeleteVery nice Ayala! Moments like these in life are indeed "bittersweet and glorious"...well said!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jen.
DeleteYou have done well raising your boy. :-)
ReplyDeleteI understand how we would chose to be with our children. I just tried to sell my house for over a year, so I could move close to my only daughter. This was unsuccessful. I'm back in my old house again, wishing i could have my daughter near. Ahhhhh, motherhood.
ReplyDeleteYour pride in your son is obvious and letting them do what they have set out to do and not interfering unless they ask is so wise...he is a gift.
ReplyDelete