The fool with his sad, sweet smile | Teen Ink

The fool with his sad, sweet smile

September 25, 2010
By Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran


‘O sad, sunken man
Why do you sit upon a bed of stone?
With droplet tears sprinkled iridescent
Upon your sun kissed cheeks?’

His sorrow-dipped eyes climb an unstable ladder
From a spot in the distance
(And a window to infinity)
To meet mine own

‘Witness of my distress!’ he cries with
A tin voice that chimes a bell
‘Hear the story that I have been wound
I pray you bear my heart’s desperate sobs’

Tell me, he did, lenses glazed with nostalgia
Straw colored hair in a lovely mess
Hands’ fingers feeling the invisible being
Of his vanished history…

He told me then of his spirit
Which was gold and true and kind
Woven by the cherubs
When their countenance was aligned
But he was born with a broken tongue
And his soul never took to sail
On the charming waters of other souls
For humanity and its gale

He held his dreams of being loved
For he was a rather precious thing
But the one left behind as the songbirds took flight
He was the bird with a single wing
And so it was, the dew soaked truth
His heart was vacant, for want of a friend
Stumbling through life with three left feet
The story’s anticlimactic end

The fool looked at me with a sad, sweet smile
His stained glass face painted with prayer
I gave him back his steady gaze
Through a complex exchange of hands




He looked hopeful, for a savored moment
As if I would mercifully heal his pain
He extended his palm to me, his hope
With a thoroughly desperate mien

I?
I stalked away from the sorry soul
Leaving the fool on his bed of stone
To whimper alone in the darkness
And shiver and groan
And weep


The author's comments:
We are each the fool and his witness. It's rather sad, really.

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This article has 32 comments.


leafy said...
on Dec. 22 2011 at 10:03 am
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

Not clever? Not pretty? Yes, I suppose IamtheshyStargirl is right – you will never fully comprehend how moving your words are.

on Jul. 26 2011 at 6:47 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

The poet will never know the true worth of his words, I suppose.

on Jul. 26 2011 at 5:56 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

At first, I thought that writing this poem was a mistake; it's not very clever, not very pretty.

But it's pure and honest, so I wouldn't take it back.


on Jul. 26 2011 at 5:55 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

And the lemon-drops are just like raindrops as they fall from above and splash against the soft skin of the mind. And the raindrops are quiet, but that's why they have so much to say to the few who listen to them. It sounds like you are engulfed in a beautiful moment.

I am listening to the Ballad of the Absent Mare; hearing the gentle notes of the guitar as well as the woeful tone of the poet's voice is like embracing a wild bird, feeling the softness of the feathers and the wings but at the same time being pierced by the talons. Rather like falling in love, I suppose.


on Jul. 26 2011 at 12:43 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

The last line is a broken mirror, shivering and vibrating on the floor, setting the heart and soul afire, the shoulders tremble in realization of what happens inside and on the sweet, white page.

on Jul. 26 2011 at 12:42 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

So here I am listening to lemon-drop music, and reading silent rain. I can hear two things, the sniffle of a sad, sweet smile, and a Lighthouse song (Not that the song means much in particular to me, except smoke and silently twanging guitar picked by imagined, gnarled fingers, a voice rising over it, smoky and clear.)

 


on Oct. 27 2010 at 8:27 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

The aspect that, perhaps, you rarely touch.

on Oct. 27 2010 at 8:27 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

Perhaps, but I feel like you were exploring a different aspect of humanity.

on Oct. 13 2010 at 3:48 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

To use the German word, Danke.

Emilia901 GOLD said...
on Oct. 12 2010 at 8:48 pm
Emilia901 GOLD, Moreno Valley, California
11 articles 4 photos 65 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures." Jessamyn West

Wow.... The words needed to describe this piece are at a lost to me because I am just too moved with emotion. You're talent is one I envy, bravo =^_^=

on Oct. 11 2010 at 3:49 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

oh...i get it...you're in my bathroom. and every time i turn my back you sneak on the laptop and post your comment. i get it now. yep...that explains everything.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 3:43 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

I do suppose I'd rather rumble.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 3:34 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

well the thing is there is an assemblage of poetic junk formed into what has come to be known to mankind as a slope. so either your rumbling through it, or you fell off and your dead.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 2:28 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

He is my puppeteer.

Sounds charming; however, I don't rumble, I fly. Or sometimes I strut. Or sometimes I soumersalt. Or sometimes I glide. Or sometimes I...etc.


on Oct. 11 2010 at 2:05 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

yeah...whoever that guy is. i think i'll write something pessimistic with images of you rumbling through the background noise.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 1:24 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

What a beautifully pessimistic thing to say! I believe I will incorporate that into a poem.

I better tell Emilio that he is a mere sad and empty instinct.


on Oct. 11 2010 at 1:21 pm
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

Indeed, that is a convincing hypothesis.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 12:02 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

...our sad and empty instincts.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 11:53 am
nefariouslyme, Richland, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 72 comments
Perhaps in a way, we are all fools with sad sweet smiles, but it takes something monumentous to bring out our inner fool.

on Oct. 11 2010 at 11:27 am
Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
40 articles 2 photos 1632 comments

Favorite Quote:
"il piu nell' uno," (according to Emerson, an Italian expression for beauty)

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" ~Emily Dickinson

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain"
~Kahlil Gibran

I understand...

Although I did enjoy being a puppet for a while. I believe we are all puppets, but who's pulling those lovely strings? Except for Emilio, of course.