Once upon a time, I wrote poetry!

Somewhere deep inside my #LetsDiscuss2020 #DiscussionSunday post about my regimen vs. impulse posting, I posed the question if anyone thought it might be fun for me to post some of my poetry here on my blog. Well, a couple of people showed interest, and the rest of you can just click or scroll on by if you aren’t poetry people (I promise, I won’t be the least bit offended)!

This one was written in 2000, after a friend from the Internet sent me a present all the way to Israel!

Once and Future Gift

He sent me lilac seeds for my garden,
When he learned of my longing for that heady profusion
That bloomed outside my childhood’s window.

Those tall gatherings of warm magenta and delicate pink
Spread their purple perfume over lawn and path,
Their graceful bows sheltering tulip and hyacinth.

These were pastel backdrops for birthday portraits,
Fragrant torn presents in grubby hands,
And sad-sweet wreaths for memorial.

But seeds hold no joy, except in my nurturing toil;
No scent, except in their promise;
No memories, except in their future.

For that, I will urge them to take root, sprout and flower
So that the next generation –
Removed by almost half the globe –
May one day fall in love with
the giddying scent of my distant youth.

© 2000 Davida R. Chazan – all rights reserved. (This poem was first published in the Fall 2000 issue of Limestone Circle (No. 8), and later reprinted in the online magazine “E-This!”)