1.24.2010

With romance in the air (yes, Valentines Day still means something to some people) It seems most appropriate to use poetry as inspiration for the stories of my new Etsy listings.

I really connected with "Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same thing when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning to extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.



There is no failure in love lost when memories are good.

1 comment:

  1. Elizabeth,
    It kinda looks like we have similar interests! Thanks for the lovely comment on my blog!
    If you would like the free pdf of the painting, just drop me an email.
    juliefillo@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete