The Vast
~
standing at the edge
feeling far below
the great tides
the ebb and flow
the rise and fall
the vast undulation
sparkled golden
glinting in sunlight
like the windblown sway
of tasseled wheat
burnished aureate
rolling ripe for harvest
this is the come and go
of centuries
wave by wave
day by day
might incarnate
the power of indifference
the surge of perfect apathy
and I
insignificant
as a grain of wheat
in an unfurling field
stretching to the horizon
insignificant
as the grain of beach sand
bounced and tumbled
below me here
dragged helpless
in the relentless undertow
a froth-topped crest
translucent aqua
rises up in beckon
a silk of azure
slides smoothly
down its sloping back
as it dances
on the cerulean deep
how easily
I could slip in
slide seamlessly
into that fathomed realm
down down ever down
into the bottom black
into the waiting silence
without so much
a noticed sound
absorbed
into the churn and roar
without so much
a ripple
to disturb the steady surf
a subtle crease
irrelevant
erased
even as it came
~ ~ ~
rob kistner © 2020
I love the energy and deep reflections of your verses. My take away from this, in the light of nature’s might & beauty, we are awed, feeling our insignficance, as a grain of what.
Your take away is right on point to my vision for this piece Grace. I am pleased. Thank you for your kind snd accurate words.
Such a beautiful poem. I especially adore the ocean and sea imagery and how it flowed (pun intended!) I feel this breaks down an existential feeling of self-worth. How we appear to nature is as minuscule as it created us. We are mere ants to the above and God. That’s what I get from this piece, and that’s very significant since it can resonate with those trying to swim through the currents—all in an ultimate goal to find their own desired path. Wonderful and philosophical writing!
You grasped what I was striving for Lucy. That’s most gratifying to me, thank you.
This is so introspective and honest. In the great grand scheme of things, we are all but a blip in the passage of time. Your words always capture me!
I do my best to create good Work Bev. I greatly appreciate that it engaged you.
Sublime combination of picture and words. You have expressed such nuanced meaning.
The swell and fall of the rhythm is absorbing and embracing. It really is a work where the two components would be diminished without each other.
Enjoyed it very much, thank you.
Thank you very much Max. True to the title of my blog, both the image and verse are important to me, and I concentrate meticulously on both.
I can see where one would feel insignificant standing on that edge looking out on what you call the vastness. There is a feeling of awe but also a feeling of melancholy as I read it. It would be impossible not to miss all of it.
I like being joyful, I appreciate being happy, I am engaging and stimulated by my sorrow — but I love my melancholy. It fills my soul and inspires my introspection, my writing my craft art. Makes me feel alive. Being happy does not inspire me creatively. I guess I am a strange being?
I enjoy this poem and definitely agree with Jade Li’s comment. This is magnificent, Rob.
You’re most gracious Rose, thank you.
You captured that feeling of awe and insignificance, Rob, in the title alone and then the first stanza. I love the sensation of standing on the edge of a wheat field evoked in the lines:
‘sparkled golden
glinting in sunlight
like the windblown sway
of tasseled wheat’,
the enormity of it all in the
‘…come and go
of centuries
wave by wave
day by day’
and the unexplored mystery of the sea in:
‘down down ever down
into the bottom black
into the waiting silence
without so much
a noticed sound’.
Kim, I am deeply grateful for your wonderful words of acknowledgement — thank you.
The “ebb and flow” – it is the cycle of us all. As I read this poem, I hear the clock’s pendulum in the next room ticking. Yes, ebb and flow.
As does the pendulum of life ever swing Misky, so too our personal pendulum swings — until our clock runs down to stopping. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Rob, this is a poem filled with so much depth and wisdom. A reminder which we needed. I totally love this:
and I
insignificant
as a grain of wheat
in an unfurling field
stretching to the horizon
Thank you, and I sm pleased this touched you Rose… 🙂
Oh my…..this struck me as a deep deep reflection….the infinitesimally small speck that we each are. On a second read, I also thought of the idea of all the turmoil going on now….and how is my one voice going to rise above, to mean something? Or shall it simply be absorbed into the teeming masses? And how do I choose to speak?
The illustration is magnificent and I especially love these lines
“like the windblown sway
of tasseled wheat
burnished aureate
rolling ripe for harvest”
I just read it a third time….there is so much to think about here in the journey of reflection your words take us on.
Thank you Lillian for taking the time to really read this piece. Everything I write to a prompt is done initially stream of consciousness, there is forethought only to check that I have a direction in mind, and that I am making some sense as I move in that direction. Then I go back to determine what I was trying to express, consciously and subconsciously. I read it again and again editing and refining. Most of the time I uncover, and bring better focus to the primary, secondary, and frequently tertiary layers of the poem. So like you, by reading more than once, I continue to discover what was inspiring the poem. Upon reading It for maybe the tenth time last night, I found that there seems to have been a consideration of the essence of suicide — though it is not directly a poem about taking one’s own life. Rather more an understanding that, given the sense of personal insignificance touched upon, exiting space ship earth is not ultimately a difficult undertaking — should the spirit be moved in that direction. There is a thread of reflection on our frailty as humanz.
I love the perspective of being insignificant compared to earth… it’s a perspective that is very soothing compared to constantly trying to be the conquerer
And far more in line with the reality of the matter, I believe Bjorn.
Beautifully introspective! I especially like; “like the windblown sway of tasseled wheat burnished aureate rolling ripe for harvest/this is the come and go of centuries wave by wave day by day.”
Thank Sanaa very much.