Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Night Vision

By Joseph Hesch 

I sat up in bed last night,
drawing darkness around me
like a comforter.
It's okay, we've been sleeping together
for quite a while now.
There are times it sustained me,
as I pulled ever more of it
over my shoulders, or
greedily spooned it into me
until all of life’s color disappeared.
I wonder if you ever saw
my moon face gazing down on you
from the dark firmament
of your bedroom ceiling,
or maybe from your desk,
burning through your clouds
of doubt and fear. I see
your eyes from these perches,
sometimes fierce, sometimes sad,
always shining, either with spirit
or tears.
But this isn’t my light shining on you.
It’s your light and that of all the others
that I reflect back from a
miraculously polished sense of self.
And when, finally, I fully open my eyes, 
and pronounce myself present here,  
I expect your lights to nourish
this once-dark soul, for good and all.


Posting this poem for Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub. This week it's being presented by my lovely friend, Natasha Head. Why don't you check out some of the other folks who have come to hear Tasha sing behind the bar tonight?

29 comments:

  1. Joe...the language of this piece is quite simpley fantastic. Liquid smooth and velvety! Reads like a dream....no pun intended ;)

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  2. nice job...love the seeing of the face in the ceiling...done that...and the reflecting of the light back on your finely polished self is a great touch as well....

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  3. Love this, Joe. It almost seems as if you're the moon.

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  4. I love the comfort of the darkness waiting to be recognised ~ it almost felt warm and safe around me! Poetryman http://apoetryman.blogspot.com/

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  5. " I see
    your eyes from these perches,
    sometimes fierce, sometimes sad,
    always shining, either with spirit
    or tears."

    sighhhhhh... ♥ touching words. love your depth. nice work as always, Joe.

    Kellie

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  6. Intensely poignant, lyrical and yet with a touch of restraint-- very fine work, Joe. xxxj

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  7. Magnificient piece, really liked how you played with your words and made such a wonderful scene, prouncing yourself and moon face gazing were great lines!

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  8. I was captured from beginning to end...loved how you drew the darkness around you like a comforter

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  9. nice... compassion and light to dark places

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  10. These images drew me in like the comforter/darkness, gathering so much feeling into this poem. I also like the familiarity with darkness. This resonates with the prompt I've written for my blog tomorrow 4PM PST. Would love to invite you to link it.

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  11. Beautiful - it is a very comforting poem :)

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  12. Your writing nourishes my soul.. and i like the metaphor of the moon:

    it’s your light and that of all the others
    that I reflect back from a
    miraculously polished sense of self.

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  13. Intense and a beautiful reflection.

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  14. ah yes, i have seen that face, navigated through those clouds.
    love this piece!

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  15. I pulled my own comforter around me as I read this velvety lovely write. Nice work!

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  16. Such an excellent flow on this one. Your writing is coming off as effortless lately ~ though I know that's not the case. Thanks for this piece.

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  17. "It’s your light and that of all the others
    that I reflect back from a
    miraculously polished sense of self.
    And when, finally, I fully open my eyes,
    and pronounce myself present here,
    I expect your lights to nourish
    this once-dark soul, for good and all."

    What are we, but a reflection of those who are a part of our lives, and we a reflection in theirs. Something very comforting and sustaining in this idea, at least for me.

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  18. moves from first person soliloquy on the bliss of 'darkness' into a monologue directed unto the self, in self-exegesis and restorative self-palliation, and a nurturing, accompanied with set expectations.
    (whew! hope that's not as hard to digest as it was to formulate.)

    Great intra-personal poem. very rich in psychologism.

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  19. beautiful joe. I know that feeling of snuggling down in the darkness, too.

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  20. Sounds like an experience in Remote Viewing.

    CIA has done this, but not for soul nourishment.

    I like your idea better.

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  21. Very nice. Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed the imagery.
    Peace,
    Siggi in Downeast Maine

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  22. A wonderful poem - ie full of wonder. Beautifully constructed.

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  23. Beautiful... I liked these lines..

    'But this isn’t my light shining on you.
    It’s your light and that of all the others'

    Some times we all reflect our light on others we are connected with... probably its yours too...:-)

    Shashi
    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/12/whispers-buddha-song.html
    At Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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  24. Thanks for linking it, Joe. Happy to read it again.

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  25. I so admire the subtlety of your work... not straining for effect. Somehow the language you select carries the weight of human frailty. I always feel I've read something significant when I come here..

    I also had a good chuckle at the 'it's alright we've been sleeping together for quite a while' line.. :)

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  26. lways shining, either with spirit
    or tears.
    But this isn’t my light shining on you.
    It’s your light and that of all the others
    that I reflect back from a
    miraculously polished sense of self.



    very interesting lines, not your light, but...
    this makes powerful impacts on the sentiments you try to convey.

    Glad to visit you today,
    keep up the excellence.

    ;)

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  27. Well, I'm baaack! for Victoria's 'Dark Place'....and this poem is in the Dark Place, isn't it?
    Still, a great introspection piece, filled with psychologisms (not a word, a neologism -- facets of the intra-personal psychology.)
    a ''miraculously polished sense of self'' is miraculous, isn't it?
    thanks for sharing.

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  28. What a brilliant opening. It was worth reading for that alone. Not that the rest isn't clever, it is, just the opening 5 lines are a killer. Must try it sometime.

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  29. All your friends have responded beautifully. I am in complete agreement.

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