I saw her
In the living room
Before I
Heard she died.
Wipe away the guilt and gloom.
Go with peace inside.
Text: Linked to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays and dVerse Poetics where Amaya is hosting featuring the shadorma poetry form.
Photos: “Light in Snow”, above, “Snow Up Close”, below.
Hi Frank,
nice poem.Death is the only unified justice that awaits us all!
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Thank you, Ben!
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Ooh, I love ghosty poems. This is stunning, Frank.
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Thank you, Gaby! It really happened.
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It’s good the speaker got to talk to her first. I love the last lines,”go with peace inside,” very wise. Say those important words you need to tell your loved ones!
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Yes, we need to say the important words of forgiveness and love to them. Thank you, Amanda!
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You’re welcome Frank.
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I think this poem speaks volumes, Frank.
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Thank you, Robbie! I am glad you liked it!
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Whoa, so much mystery in these six lines, Frank. I like how the reader doesn’t really know who is seeking forgiveness, “you” or “her”, but that there is peace knowing forgiveness has been attained among the two.
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I imagined it was both in our own ways and yet the forgiveness was given decades ago. Thank you for the prompt and this interesting form, Amaya!
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A haunting shadorma, Frank!
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Yes, but not scary. Thank you, Kim!
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The contrast between that last meeting and the end in the grave tells me a story not really told. love that
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Most of the story is a mystery. Thank you, Bjorn!
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When I was writing mine in the back of my mind I thought, “I wonder if Frank will rhyme this,” and you did. Lol! I felt a tug to rhyme mine but didn’t. Until you, I didn’t know any poets who rhymed as much as I do. I look forward to your work.
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I’m glad you liked the rhyme, Bekkie. When I see syllabic forms, I figure there is often a place to put rhyme somewhere and if it is not too noticeable maybe it will be alright.
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I once put rhyme in a haibun and got into a hot discussion about how wrong it was. ~sigh~ It fit very well and I’ve done it in haiku also. Have a nice weekend!
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If it sounded good and made sense, it can’t be wrong.
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You know I spaced out. I wanted to say I loved your poem. I saw my father 5 times after he passed it was scary yet comforting. I believe.
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This was my aunt whom I saw, but only once. Two other members of my extended family admitted they saw relatives after they died. Five times is a real blessing. I wasn’t scared seeing her. It was comforting.
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I thought so too and he wasn’t see-through. Each time was a difference place and he was doing something he always did. Like an echo in time (I like to think.) This was fresh after his passing too. Later I had a vivid dream where he came to me and I couldn’t ask him anything but he told me he was happy and fine where he was. We were walking in our backyard where all the grass was very green and colors sharp. After that, it was over. My X saw my dad once too when he was with me when I saw him in his car. All very interesting and I do believe it but wonder was a ghost, or was it my mind sorting through his death? They say a person can make another see what they are. I guess hard to chat about it here but I’m not surprised you witnessed it too.
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That your X saw him as well makes it more than a personal experience. Your story is very intense. I wonder if you have written about it anywhere? Sue Vincent has a page collecting such stories: https://scvincent.com/elusive-realities-and-strange-encounters/
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No I haven’t yet and you don’t know the half of it. He was murdered in his own home with his own handgun. The story is very intense. I haven’t even written about it on my fiction site. Thank you for the link I’ll check it out.
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This story is definitely worth telling! I hope you write it up.
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When I do I’ll let you know. Thanks, Frank!
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Almost serene, and comforting.
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It is comforting. Thank you, Alison!
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I think there is always some guilt and gloom about what you could have done or said. You can’t live there!
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One has to let the guilt and gloom go. Thank you, Mary!
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A poignant ghostly tale. I’m glad that peace took centre stage at the end.
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I think real ghost stories are peaceful. Thank you, Vivian!
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😊
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Shivers that it is true. Glad there was forgiveness. Much needed to move on for both involved. Lovely pictures too!
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It is true, but it was not scary. I’m glad you liked the photos, Rebel Girl!
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I love that you snuck your most excellent rhyming skills in here, Frank.
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I figured they might fit somewhere. I am glad you like the rhyming, De!
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I liked the eeriness of the seeing her in the living room before you knew she died!
Dwight
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It was strange, but almost natural and comforting. Thank you, Dwight!
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Definitely phantom-like and touching.
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I am glad you liked this, Kathy!
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Wow, Frank, did this really happen? Thank you for sharing this poem for #ForgivingFridays. I felt such a release and letting go of loved ones as I read, and the immense peace that comes with moving on from this world. Ultimate forgiveness all the way around. It felt like a confirmation and reassurance all at the same time. I’ll share your post for Forgiving Fridays tomorrow – it’s an honor. 🙂 Blessings, Debbie
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Yes, it did happen, decades ago, and the original forgiveness happened decades before that. I am glad you liked this, Debbie!
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That is beautiful, Frank. ❤
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Lovely – and I like the rhymes.
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Thank you, Rosemary! I wanted to sneak the rhymes in somehow.
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Much said and felt in a few words. The buds in the snow provide an echo.
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Thank you, Janice!
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Death does not always bring peace. So many other emotions instead.
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Good point about death and peace, Annell. Thank you!
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Beautifully haunting “go with peace inside” yes, that’s how it should be.
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Thank you, Raivenne!
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Marvelous photos; especially love the close-up. They make me look at your poem as those the ‘she’ is winter or snow.
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That is an interesting perspective on the “she”. It makes sense. Thank you, Jilly!
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Very eerie, comforting, and extremely well-done, Frank.
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Thank you, Charley!
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very nice, Frank. I can feel the tension being released from my own body as I read this.
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I am glad the tension released. Thank you, Victoria!
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I truly believe these things happen more than people realize. If you are open, it’s a comfort and a confirmation that souls live on.
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They happen often. There are three members of my extended family (including myself) who had such stories to tell. Thank you, Linda!
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Glad to have come across you and look forward to following your blog. Anita
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Thank you, Anita!
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This is so beautiful, as are your rhymes. A touch of eerieness floats through this.
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I am glad you liked this, Sara. Thank you!
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The layers of meaning in each line are fabulously crafted.
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Thank you, Reena!
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good poem with a story inbetween the lines as the living grants the ghost forgiveness, peace is granted on both sides. sweet!
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Peace and forgiveness is granted on both sides. It was a peaceful experience. Thank you!
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There is a sense of peace in this. Beautiful photos, too.
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It was peaceful. Thank you, Merril!
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Comfort and closure.
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Yes. Thank you, Eugenia!
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a fitting exemplar of the most difficult act of all: forgiveness.
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It is very difficult, perhaps most difficult. When one can finally does it, the difficulty vanishes. Thank you, Frank!
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…makes me think something was left unsaid… We need to learn to live each day to its fullest – make sure we say what needs to be said…
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That’s true. There are more opportunities now. Thank you, Margaret!
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Someone once said that ghosts linger in places where they had regrets in life. You captured this well.
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Good point about lingering ghosts. I am glad you liked this, Barry!
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i sat there silently a few weeks before
my Mother Died as she exclaimed.. her son
is Demon Possessed for he no longer uses
semi-colons or periods when he writes..
For Before she Loved it
and now
suddenly
all i wrote was
evil.. as any demon
will bring to even poetry
of soul abyss Black
It’s True Love
never
need
be Forgiven
For Love Unconditional
Who Never Leaves a Home of
Warm that seed she planted in me
so Tall and Strong that Wheat of Love
who sat there calm considering the fact
that something was truly wrong that had
nothing to do with her Soul or me.. the Force
of Love in never
having
to say
i apologize
For the Love Watered
And Fed so Strong that it
refuses to leave even after everyone leaves
A Tree of LoVE alone.. to spread a root of LiFE..
It’s True that Brain Cancer was not too strong for her
to forgive the
next week
A Devil Her
Cancer saw in me..:)
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It was the cancer that saw that devil. I am glad she was able to forgive at the end even though nothing needed to be forgiven. It is good to do it anyway. Best wishes, Fred!
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Forgiving
Heals Love..:)
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big feelings in brief leanings.
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Thank you!
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Well said.Strong message about forgiveness.
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Thank you, Sammuchiri!
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When my grandma stayed with me almost at the end of her life, i felt my grandfather’s presence hovering in the evenings. Love your photos almost as much as your poetry.
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I suspect your grandfather’s presence was real. I am glad you these these!
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Grandpa’d been dead more than 40 years, but I walked the land he’d managed for more than 30, took out the last of his osage orange hedge posts. I suspect I absorbed Grandpa molecules as I grew up.
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We change so much seen from the perspective of molecules. We share many of them with each other especially those close to us.
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I was only nine when he died, but I’m sure we both left gazillions of molecules in our blood and sweat on those 480 acres. I had to sell it last summer. That was a heartbreaker.
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We sold a family farm some years ago. I still miss it. May your future be blessed. The story of your grandparents may be worth writing either as a memoir or as the basis for a fictional novel.
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Already written, Frank, and published within a longer family memoir. I called it Threshold because our families are the threshold we cross into a larger world. I’m writing my parents as a trilogy of related novels.
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I found it and bought a copy. Best wishes on the trilogy!
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Thanks, Frank. I really wasn’t soliciting a purchase, but I’m grateful.
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I was looking for some new prose to read. I also like coincidences like this to bring something new to my attention.
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Frank, this is very touching. And immediately relevant to me. I am trying to forgive a number of people who have done some very hurtful things and have for years. Perhaps forgiveness is the first step for personal peace: they don’t care about my forgiveness. And I must say that to forgive them is the first step in forgetting them. That distance must be gotten. Sometimes forgiveness has different aspects.
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It is not easy and I have not succeeded at it. All of this is a reminder, mainly for myself, that the end of the journey is still ahead, attainable (I hope), and the journey is worth continuing. Thank you, Jane!
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You are welcome, Frank. I struggle with this every day. My mother is a seriously impaired person, with a serious personality disorder. She attacks (emotionally) and is emotionally sadistic. After a life time of this behavior towards people, there is no ‘cure’. Malignant narcissists refuse to see what they do. Their wiring is too twisted, and they are comfortable with their behavior. It gets the results they crave.. I tried No Contact for years (the victims of this kind of behavior are seriously hurt and the wounds don’t close easily) and frankly, I didn’t realize that she was using the same thing. LOL! So, though I am not Jewish, the theology of Judaism includes this: if a person doesn’t ask for forgiveness, it should not be offered. Sounds reasonable, but the after burn still is there. So, I forgive her (and siblings) for what they have become so I can forget them. So I can end my hope that they will change in their behavior. My son, in his early 20’s said this: Mom, you don’t want to remember her: you want to forget her. She has given you a PTSD and that is a life time ‘gift’. I think he is very wise.
The older I get the more I see that for some people they are entrenched. But in general, and not in this specific case, the issue of forgiveness is one of the most important principles to spread around. It is a cornerstone of our humanity and civilization.
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I agree with your son. Forgetting is the goal. I also agree with you about not offering someone forgiveness who does not ask for it. I didn’t realize that was part of Jewish theology. It makes sense. Prior to them asking, should that ever in some unlikely event happen, we need to be ready, protecting ourselves on one hand and preparing ourselves to forgive on the other. That is all the forgiveness I am striving for–just be ready at any time to be able to forgive should the opportunity ever arise. It is like being ready for death. Who knows when death will ask us for forgiveness?
There have been times when I don’t think I could forgive someone should they ask for it and then all of a sudden, without any effort on my part, that changes. What happens is I no longer care. It is getting to that state of not caring so I can breathe freely again that I yearn for.
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You have a very good and deep understanding of this difficult issue: forgiveness. And especially when we all of a sudden, without any effort, give it. I don’t think it is always an issue of ‘we don’t care anymore’….but something else that enables us to forgive… I don’t know what that is, but it is much more than apathy. Apathy is close to violence in a very strange way. Getting to that state of not caring so we can breathe freely again is the point of it all I believe. And the Jews got it right the first time. Very different than that Christian turning the other cheek and forgiving everything.
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I don’t know how it happens and when I am not in the mood to forgive I don’t think it is possible at all. And then, perhaps because I am just too tired of the emotional drain involved in the negativity, it leaves. It is not something I think I did, but I am glad it happens.
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Yep, I understand. same thing here. I think I just get tired of the fight. and fighting is so draining. I’d rather eat cake! LOL! But you have raised some really important points about this issue, Frank. Thank you.
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