“The Promise”
Stay, I said
to the cut flowers.
They bowed
their heads lower.
Stay, I said to the spider,
who fled.
Stay, leaf.
It reddened,
embarrassed for me and itself.
Stay, I said to my body.
It sat as a dog does,
obedient for a moment,
soon starting to tremble.
Stay, to the earth
of riverine valley meadows,
of fossiled escarpments,
of limestone and sandstone.
It looked back
with a changing expression, in silence.
Stay, I said to my loves.
Each answered,
Always.
I like the repetitiveness of the poem because it emphasizes the meaning of how there are many things in life that can reject you, but love won’t. I notice that the connotation in the beginning is dark but lightens up at the end when she realizes that love always wins. Also when each time she asks them to stay, she is disappointed because they all except the last. I think this poem expresses the poets frustration towards the changes in her surroundings that she cannot change, but also realizes that love will always be there.
🦋 Madeline Pitts 🦋 