S o I applied a strong salve
of feigned indifference
then wound my wounded heart
in a protective dressing of pride
preventing the lethal infection
of seeping abject despair
from poisoning my spirit
and scarring my soul
but instead
promoting the growth
of healing hope
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
The wounds sometimes need that, but hopefully the salve of healing hope works.
(I got to your OLN poem too late to comment, but I enjoyed your poem about your father. It sounds like those fishing trips were so special. Your reading made me a bit teary-eyed. My dad also died in May–the anniversary was last week. It was over twenty years ago, and my father was nothing like yours, but still. ????)
Feigned indifference is self defense — never let’em see you bleed, never let’em know you cried!
Thank you very much for your most kind words regarding my “Ontario Breakfast”. I was blessed to have had Bob (dad) come into my life. I still miss him!
“So I applied a strong salve
of feigned indifference”
You had me with these two first lines. So powerful and a way of coping at times. Strong assertion comes through here. Good use of “wound” as a homographic pair.
Going back to those first two lines….I’m really stuck on them. What an excellent idea for a salve….sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I love the positive ending here.
Thank you Lillian for your most gracious words… 🙂 … never let’em see you bleed, never let’em know you cried!
This. Is amazing, Rob.
Thank you David, kind words my friend… 🙂
Great poem Rob. It is always good when wounds can be channeled into positive growth! Love the illustration!
Thank you Dwight, you’re always kind my friend… 🙂
Luv the healing salve applied
Bravo, luv the music video
Happy Monday
Much love…
Thank you Gillena! 🙂
…and don’t we all engage in feigned indifference and succumb to pride?! Well said, Rob.
Yes we do Bev…! Thank you… 🙂
“seeping abject despair” …. can it get any worse? Yes, there is always hope. Nice 44, Rob.
Thank you Helen… 🙂 …nope, nothing worse…!
Pride as hope’s fertilizer. A worthy concept, Rob. Nicely done.
As since time began Ron, if one has no self-pride, no personal dignity — there is no hope.
Rob, I’m glad you found a way that works for you. I like what Dwight said also, where you can shift the pain to something that leads to growth.
There must be pain if there is to be birth, like fire of the forge that begets precious metals, and the torn soil that receives the new seed. The leaf must die for the buds to sprout. Life death, pleasure pain, light dark — the cycle of life Lisa… yin yang.
I liked your notion of applying
self-care before infection sets in.
Simple and necessary to repair heartache.
“preventing the lethal infection
of seeping abject despair”
Well done.
Thank you Ali… 🙂
Inspiring words. Nicely done.
Thank you Arcadia… 🙂
I loved your opening lines Rob. There is truth in that statement and it is something I have been guilty of, but it works doesn’t it? I love that you went on to ‘healing hope’. A beautiful poem.
Yes it does, and thank you Christine… 🙂
Ooh, love how the dressing prevents a spread but slows the heal. Really great use of the prompt word, Rob.
Thank you K! 🙂
I like the conversational tone, Rob, as if if I were sitting next to you in a dingy bar somewhere over a glass of something. The image that pricked me as the ‘lethal infection of seeping abject despair’. Wow!
One of those deep philosophical meta convo’s — the type I absolutely love! Yeah Kim, you fine the dingy bar, send me the plan fare, and we can talk for an entire weekdnd!
‘a strong salve
of feigned indifference’ – that’s a perfect description of how we form a protective shield around ourselves, but we must beware of our hearts becoming hardened!
Yes indeed Ingrid!
You took the darkness that these words evoked in so many of us this prompt, and made it into an empowering positive.
I tried Xan!
A plaster of pride to help the salve of ‘feigned indifference’ do its job. We all need to apply a dose of self-preservation from time to time. Relieved there is a positive ending with hope in sight. Great quadrille.
Thank you Marion!
I love this .. and agree, channeling one’s wounds into something positive fares much better than to dwell upon them. 🙂
You are always kind Sanaa. I appreciate your kind words… 🙂
The lethal infection seeping … a relationship closer to sepsis I think… love the conclusion of getting free
Thank you Bjorn!
“… feigned indifference…” I know that one well. A powerful poem of loves drama. I really like how you ended it with hope. Good one Rob.
Pat
Thank you Pat. 🙂
I like that imagery – of moving one’s heart to heal so as to prevent an infection of apathy and something worse than a wounded soul. Well done, as always.
Thank you Masa! 🙂