Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
Have you noticed
that her face never moves?
Were she 2,000,
she would be a statue.
Were she 500,
she would be a painting.
Were she 50,
she would be a photo.
Were she alive,
she’d be dead.
March 7, 2009
Tag Archives: poem
Wonder
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
The wonder of words
is not in their order
is not in their length
is not in their sound.
The wonder of words
is not in who says them
is not in who writes them
is not in who records them
The wonder of words
is what you hear in them
is what you see in them
is what you feel in them
The wonder of words
is what they inspire in you.
2005
Twilight
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
The twilight of the trees
Deepest at noon
Blends in with the dawn
Fades out with the dusk.
Is this my deepest twilight
Now that it is noon?
I have blended into life
And now I begin to fade.
2005
The Heart
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
I saw a heart upon the ground
Yellow, torn, sick, dying, dead.
I thought it was mine.
“Who killed my heart?”
I asked the sky, the earth, the sun.
I asked the moon and the stars.
I asked the birds.
I asked the insects.
I asked all the animals.
And the flowers.
I spared none my grief, my loss.
None knew
Who killed my heart.
Finally, I asked a great tree.
The tree looked down upon my heart.
“It is not your heart.”
“It is not?”
“It is mine.”
And so it was.
Leaf and veins, dead and decayed.
I still have my heart.
(I believe.)
But now it truly grieves
Not for itself
But for another.
It is well at last.
2005
Tell-Tail Sign
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
While catnapping
tortoiseshell tail
snakes around arm
in feline love.
1998
Dedicated to Pudge, 1984 – 2002.
Lonescape
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
Here are no trees
No birds
No creatures
No plants
No thing.
Here are no sights
No smells
No tastes
No sounds
Nothing.
Life or death?
Or somewhere between
the beginning and the end.
The place that breathes, eats, sleeps, and dreams
and does not live or die.
The center of sensation
where should dwell
love, joy, hope, desire
Devoid. Deserted.
Unseen
Unheard
Unfelt
Unfeeling
Somewhere between.
2007
Goodbye
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
Say goodbye to the heart that never was.
What will you find of me
When there is nothing left?
2005
Feeling
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
Can you feel it?
It is my heart.
Feel it beating?
Feel it dying?
1998
Between
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
It rose in light
And fell in darkness.
It filled the world
And shrank from hope.
It strolled the roads
Of fruitful countries.
It fed its mind
And mourned its heart.
It roamed alone
On misty highways.
It saw and felt
Not one like it.
One torn between
The brilliant mountains
And dimmest depths.
It yearned for life.
And so it learned
Nothing of others.
Only to cry
For its full soul.
1998
Around
Copyright © Diane L. Schirf
Around me is silence
The silence of being,
of travail,
and of me.
Around me are hopes
Bold hopes for the future,
for great joy,
and for meaning.
Around me are whispers
The whispers of longing,
of untold dreams,
and of pain.
Around me are cries
The cries of despair,
of hopelessness,
and of fear.
Around me is silence
The silence of emptiness,
of the desert,
and of death.
Around me is nothing.
The end of joy and of pain.
1997