Vox Populi

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Elizabeth Romero: This is me without you

And into this silence the cat pours

His blessing

She stood there mildly like a tree

The seed of her rebirth

Resting lightly

On the branches of her soul

The asphalt is stupid with sunshine

We have to make do with

The plodding reaching

Terrifying trudging

Steps of time

This is me without you

See?

Nothing there

And when I reappear

I have to love the air

This is me without you

Only what others see

Behind this me are pictures of you

Pictures of me and you

This is the hungry moon

The cold moon

The sky turns greenish gold at dawn

Venus lingers in the bare trees

Like a diamond ring

On a skeletal hand

I cannot be with the birds

With their mites and their feathers

And their hot little bodies

Their impassioned but inscrutable

Comments on their world

The mouths of the clouds

Fly open at daybreak

As if they are surprised in the storm’s wake

Like a liar at the principal’s office:

It wasn’t me.


Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Romero

Elizabeth Romero, 2021

10 comments on “Elizabeth Romero: This is me without you

  1. Lisa Zimmerman
    March 15, 2023

    “This is me without you
    See?
    Nothing there
    And when I reappear
    I have to love the air”

    Beautiful, and oh!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. donnahilbert
    March 14, 2023

    Love this. Of course.

    >

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Saleh Razzouk
    March 14, 2023

    Looks good and very poetic to me.
    In the prolonged blackout in Aleppo during the intensity of clashes some time i see from the window red hair floating in the darkness. But i had never seen the face nor the figure.
    Poetry is a way of salvation in all times.
    I noticed that the cat is a male , with his, in Arabic cats mostly are females.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Vox Populi
      March 14, 2023

      Thanks, Saleh. Are you back in Aleppo?

      >

      Like

      • Saleh Razzouk
        March 14, 2023

        Not yet.
        But that was 5 years ago.
        No more military activities in these days. Only the sanctions made life impossible. My brother reported me when looking for some one who can remove one of his bad teeth.
        As we say USA showed us the stars of the noon time.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Barbara Huntington
    March 13, 2023

    Wow! But I think I always say that after reading her poems on Vox Populi. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Sean Sexton
    March 13, 2023

    Wowser!
    This is the news that never stops being news. Personal, like everybody’s!

    The birds: “ With their mites and their feathers And their hot little bodies” (I first thought she said “miles” —that too.)
    So pleased you publish this sort of poem.
    Hold it high as the clouds any unlikely day.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Vox Populi
      March 13, 2023

      Thanks, Sean. I’ve long admired Elizabeth’s work. She publishes exclusively in VP.

      >

      Liked by 1 person

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This entry was posted on March 13, 2023 by in Poetry.

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