Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Leaving It There
I stop weeding, stand still a while, hands on hips,
because it’s back again — that feeling of elation
tangled with grief.
Behind me, the lavender is zealous with bees.
The lilac I planted long ago no longer needs
the stake I hammered deep in the ground —
but I leave it there — hidden in all that green.
From downhill, children’s laughter in the schoolyard.
The breeze sings with this.
I clean dirt from under my old ring & remember
how the man I love pulled it out of his shirt pocket
like a magic trick he performed only for me.
The ring is dented, thinner, not quite round anymore.
We have learned to age peacefully together now,
without him.
~~~~
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. Her collections of poetry include Lately: New and Selected Poems (Sungold, 2024).
Copyright 2024 Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Discover more from Vox Populi
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Laure-Anne:QSent from my iPhone
LikeLike
Once again the magic of Laure-Anne’s poetry has brought me literally to tears. Thank you for this gorgeous poem and its sweet, sad song, Laure-Anne.
LikeLike
Once again, you’ve captured the heart-tugs. Beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you to Laure-Anne Bosselaar for so beautifully capturing how grief evolves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes…..
>
LikeLike
Exquisite poem. Thank you.
LikeLike
Isn’t it, though?
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
✨🌫️💦🤍
LikeLike
What’s not to love about this poem. The last stanza took my breath away. Beautiful.
LikeLike
Such a touching poem with a strong ending.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this extraordinary poem – the thinning, not quite round ring catches my breath, as does the idea of aging “peacefully together now, / without him.” And “that feeling of elation / tangled with grief” I can feel in my body. I am taking this in over and over.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Jan.
>
LikeLike
I remember that garden well, and I love how you remember Kurt, Laure-Anne. I’m so happy to see this here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
tangled with grief
hidden in all that green
Thank you!
LikeLike
Beautiful poem, uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time.
LikeLike
One of those perfect poems, the one you want to carry with you. The quiet acceptance and even happiness at what life has to give us, even when not everything we hoped for is as it should be. The presence of the ring, its thinning with the years, its no longer ‘quite round-ness’ a metaphor for the years of love and togetherness, the garden a promise that there is gentle happiness in its growth… Now I read it again.
LikeLiked by 3 people
A truly tender, tough, and moving poem, Laure-Anne, that I’ve read many, many times. How perfect that little phrase, “zealous with bees” and how true that image of the misshapen ring and how it captures what we learn to live with even as the loss remains.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Laure-Anne always writes so tenderly of tough stuff, grief poetry being one of her amazing talents. She describes what so many of us feel, but that we struggle to express.
Aging together with the dented ring? An amazing completion to the beautiful poem, showing honor to the loving bonds grief can hammer but not necessarily break. Now is the time for all of us who share empathy and connection to honor our own circles of life.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes
>
LikeLike
Oh to learn to live peacefully…the birds fill the feeder and birdbath, the lavender is starting to bloom, the air is rich with orange blossoms. Yet
LikeLiked by 4 people
“the lavender zealous with bees” — !
LikeLiked by 1 person
So very beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it is…
>
LikeLike
This is another reason why we need poetry in our culture: to express the inexpressible with love.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes!
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
So tender and lovely Laure-Anne.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, this ache. I feel it to my marrow.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, me too.
>
LikeLiked by 2 people
Achingly beautiful, Laure-Anne. Kurt would be smiling.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Oh! What an exquisite poem, Laure-Anne. English sunlight is pouring through the window where I am, and the light and I are filled with tears. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
zealous with bees…
a peacefully painful poem – thank you Laure-Anne, and thank you Vox Populi.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank YOU, Noelle!
>
LikeLiked by 1 person