J.HunterDunn

Thinking of how you would cope with the death of a partner is scary and the reality must be worse that you can imagine. For Morgan it did become reality and he is trying to live with it. Three years of mourning in his own way without much of a social life. Elise manages to make him reluctantly attend a social event and it seems he is able to look further than his own grief. Thanks for a great first chapter and the link to Auden. It's one of the few poems I know by heart. Looking forward to see Morgan getting an interest in life again.

A very good start reminding us of two things we sometimes tend to forget in our hasty and full lives. In the first place never to let work become the main focus of one's life and in the second place never to take leave of a loved one with an angry heart. Morgan is guilty of both and may have to live with he consequences.

It was quite a joy to see Julian and Romeo again and at such an important point in their lives. For Julian it must have felt like baking a cake, seeing it rise, but with the fear it could implode any minute. In a way it did, but in a good way. Romeo didn't need much pursuasion. You could feel the adrenaline build and then drain away at the moment Romeo agreed to be a resident in the new house. A great story, Adi.

I think all the requirements for a perfect Ghazal are met in this poem. I very much like the way colours play a part in many of your poems and hope to see one with the title "rainbow" at one point (hint, hint). Sad to see there won't be any poems in German anymore, for the word "Schuppenflügeln" equals in beauty the word "Himmelschlüsselblumen" from the St. Matthew Passion. I give you the green light for many more black-themed poems. Thanks, Adi. Peter

Your poem very silently celebrates the first words of the Tenach. Very impressive and I was really touched by the last two lines. Thank you for sharing.

Your poem could easily replace the spoken words of the scene. Your text is full of images that appeal very much to me and capture the essence of the scene. Read aloud it flows impeccable. I hope to see many more of your poems of this high quality.

What a beautiful poem Adi. And I'm so glad I understand the German version as well. It exactly captures the feeling, that the movie-clip in the prompt conveys. As you obviously wanted to stay on the rhyme-scheme in English, most non-German speakers will probably not get, that the last line in the German version means "the thought is what set me free" or "the thought is what freed me", thus linking it to the clip and the title of your poem, and (as I learned from your reaction on the earlier review of this poem) to the text of the ancient German song your father taught you. Many layers: I love it.

I "liked" this beautiful poem the day you posted it, Gary, because indeed the feeling is so familiar to us all. Since then I have been debating to share an experience that shows the darker side of an internet community and I think I should. Some 20 years ago I was part of a closely knit group in a gay chatroom. We shared good and bad things on a daily basis. Had each other's e-mail adresses and some even their home adresses. We sent each other parcels etc. One of the guys was a Polish man aged 19 at the time. Always pleasant and open. He had made it clear, that he could not be "out" in his community and especially not to his parents. One day he came in the chatroom and was very incoherent. After a lot of questioning we got out of him that the day before he had been drinking with "friends" who spiked his drink and when he was helpless and drugged, raped him. He had been a virgin and cried out to us for help. Us, the only ones who knew about him. Help we were not able to give. Smileys loose their value at that point. That night was the last we ever heard of him. E-mails came back as the account was closed. A letter I sent to his house and worded carefully in case his parents might see before him got no response. I never got an e-mail or a postcard, although he knew both my addresses. Our group of friends slowly dissolved after this experience. It just was not fun anymore. It haunts me to this day to think of what may have become of him.