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Liberation? - By: Don W

It, tangent to the universe,

Of many a plane,

there lies two


Land masses with a river’s rift,

With azure water flowing through.

On the edge of the southern bank,

Was a rose with amor’s shadow,


Beautiful, however unbloomed,

The rose, sweet, the lady, fallow,

Who stood by the green northern bank,

Her face glowed with a divine light,


That which parted the grass below,

For the Sun, they’d otherwise fight.

Who said: “thou art more luminous

Than the Sun, to behold thy light

Would be beyond my mortal form.

For these wings are not for this flight.”


So sweet were her eyes when she gazed,

So joyful were her spoken words,

I hiding the rose, was greeted

By her, speech flew like two fond birds.


Yet came the time of her depart,

And the ascension of the larks,

I turned to see the rose once more,

It bloomed with red, that which she sparked.


Therefore, in her absence,

I worked,

To raise a bridge to cross the rift,

My heart for its integrity,

The bridge, therefore my soul won’t drift.


Although, by time’s wanton movement,

Impending death had been set forth,

To me, unbeknown, petals fell.

That it may never see the north.


But before the stem gave Death’s wish,

I grew a bed with its last seeds,

It tried to bloom (to no avail),

The lady’s light did they so plead.


On this land, I worked night to night,

To see the bridge in its glory,

To deliver the rose’s light,

And to hear her oratory.


But her presence was not revealed,

Her voice did not ring through the land,

As I stepped on the northern shore,

I did not see her loving hand.


I held the single-petaled rose,

For her return would remedy,

But my heart did smolder and fade,

The rose fulfilled its destiny.


The final petal descended,

It went through metamorphosis

One last time,

sent under its grave,

Thither, was signed the armistice.


Never, was her appearance shown,

So thus, with the dust of a rose,

Set the bridge to dancing embers,

I crossed back, the span in shadows.


The bed of flowers had now ceased,

Without their needed sustenance,

I sat down by the river's rift.

“Ah, woe”, my final utterance.


And many a day had passed, Then; and lo!

The lady appeared!

An ancient tremor crossed my heart,

She greeted with a smile so clear!


I smiled with a bittersweet smile,

To see her with joy and virtue,

And to know that she does not know,

The epitaph of the toiled crow.


Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.:


"Liberation?", is a poem written from the perspective of a lover who falls in love with a lady beyond an obstacle (the river), it can also be interpreted as a metaphorical narrative of slavery in the 19th century U.S. The rose, a symbol of passion, dies when the lady, or liberty, fails to return after the hard work of the lover. Thus, extinguished, the lover returns to his side of the river, destroying every vestige of his toil, only to see the lady again many days later. He feels the bliss of seeing her, however, he knows that this bliss is merely mortal pleasure without former passion. There are many more symbols, but I will let you discover them :)


Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.:


I just went with the flow and expanded on the ideas.


Why did you choose to write this poem?: I was inspired by a similar experience.


Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?: reading an author who writes with the style that you strive for.

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