She says, “I am content when wakened birds,
Before they fly, test the reality
Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings”
Wallace Stevens
I do have questions
but none I wish to ask,
except: How will you
remember me
at journey’s end?
But that one
does not have an exact
answer, does it?
It depends on
what you remember
of me now, and will you
think of me at all
in time to come?
So I do not ask
of you a single thing,
just of myself:
How will I
remember you?
Day 29 ~ JOURNEY
Bjorn is our host in The Imaginary Garden today, Asking Questions.
perhaps the essential existential question, when expanding from I, to thou ~
ReplyDeleteWe do spend a lot of time wondering what other people think of us, when perhaps it should be the other way around.
DeleteThat is a beautiful question. And if we know the answer, will it affect our lives now?
ReplyDeleteAt least our own interior lives are familiar and (by us) changeable. The interior lives of others might likely prove to be mazes or even moonscapes. I'm staying where I've at least got a map, and business being there. (So I say at this moment, anyway.)
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that when I am gone, people try to forget me as quickly as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis is incredibly deep and exquisitely drawn, Kerry!❤️ You reminded me of William Percy French and his words; "Remember me is all I ask, and yet if the remembrance prove a task, forget."❤️
ReplyDeleteExpectations come into play here as well. Ask it of yourself then try to live your life according to your answer.
ReplyDelete..
I think we all have that question of if we will matter to someone. If we will make a difference in the life of someone else or the world.
ReplyDeleteI know we often wonder what others think of us;I doubt we will ever truly know.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the only reasonable approach... we cannot decide what other people think, but we do have some influence of our own..
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said; I like the immediacy.
ReplyDeleteWhen younger, the thing I most wanted from lovers was that they would never forget me. Now, that doesn't seem so important; perhaps I have more sense of myself by now. Like the speaker of your poem, it's my own memories which interest me these days, and what I myself have taken from my relationships.
I used to spend so much time on what others thought of me. Age has changed that. I sometimes fell an odd sense of loss even when I'm in someone's presence. Goodbye hovers
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I saw this one on instagram and LOVED the twist at the end!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the feedback on this penultimate poem of the month. I have enjoyed the commentary as much as the poetry and have learnt a lot from the responses.
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to know what others think of you. It's better to know what you think of yourself. Good one, Kerry!
ReplyDeleteExcellent questions, Kerry.
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