This Settling House



This is the journey of my soul.
Random recordings fill me
With memories and sorrows
And yes, joys.

A woman’s loving voice
Pleads with me, Listen!
Strings thrummed lightly
Fill the void.

Eighteen again, it sometimes
Seems to creep up like an unwanted
Dream that reoccurs too often
And you want to hide the sound of it.

You want to hear instead the rolling
Of the waves and the hiss of wind

Allured by the seductive tide, slowly,
Inexorably grasping and leading us back
Into the ancient and daunting sea where
Darkness hesitantly admits narrow shafts of light.

So what that the sand and grit of life
Blast through the open window and
Frayed rusted screen? So what the roar of
Late night drivers and sea lions barking?

And of sleep when it does not come
The color of the hour means little.
Reading takes light from whatever source
Determines my angle of repose;
 
Slipping through the cracks and crevices
Of this settling house.

About this poem

Reflections on acceptance.

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Written on December 20, 2020

Submitted by DJGillert on December 12, 2022

Modified on March 08, 2023

55 sec read
105

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABX XCAX XXCX DX AXXX XXXD XXXB XX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 936
Words 184
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 2

Douglas Gillert

Douglas Gillert is a retired journalist and editor. He writes poetry as part of his spiritual path. more…

All Douglas Gillert poems | Douglas Gillert Books

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Discuss the poem This Settling House with the community...

3 Comments
  • dougb.21370
    Sounds and touch are so vivid in this visceral recollection. Very good. It would have my five for sure.
    LikeReply1 year ago
  • dougb.72572
    The stanza about sea lions barking brings on such a rich atmosphere. And real and needing to be ingested, accepted. All is not in proper order, but so what? Words often cause us to travel…Douglas Blair
    LikeReply1 year ago
  • teril
    This poem is beautiful. The settling of the house is a slow and inevitable process - so many powerful images.
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"This Settling House" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/146504/this-settling-house>.

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