Sweeping Up Fragments | Teen Ink
  1. Home
  2. Poetry
  3. Free Verse
  4. Sweeping Up Fragments

Sweeping Up Fragments

July 16, 2011
By Thesilentraven PLATINUM, Mableton, Georgia
More by this author
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

View profile

Late at night
Pretending the little glass piano
Reflects no burden of tomorrow
I’d like to wipe my eyes
So please
Leave me be

Scars are lighter
When you dream of open plains
And kneel to pray
Beneath the swaying lemon trees

Count the broken words
Which the goblins
Hand to the small, frightened boy
To get him to cease
His piercing cries
Before taking his quivering life
And pocketing it so quietly
For them to sleep
Quite fitfully

My face betrays me
I will admit
That I am lying to you
So there will be no need
To remember me

Take your beating heart
And your pretty smile
As you walk on a road of sunshine
Away from the graveyard
Of our today
But come back someday
To bury me

© Julia T., Chagrin Falls, OH

The author's comments:
We are all so very fragile...
Aren't we?
Post a comment
Submit your own

Similar Articles

Previous Next
Poetry
Silence
By bitty09 SILVER
Claymont, Delaware
bitty09 SILVER, Claymont, Delaware
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments
View profile
Poetry
The Unraveling Scarf
By kiwi12 PLATINUM
Austin, Texas
kiwi12 PLATINUM, Austin, Texas
28 articles 10 photos 365 comments
View profile
Poetry
Perfectly
By Christina Rudolph BRONZE
Lilburn, Georgia
Christina Rudolph BRONZE, Lilburn, Georgia
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments
View profile
Poetry
One Piece... One Destiny
By Matt Groy GOLD
Park City, Utah
Matt Groy GOLD, Park City, Utah
11 articles 0 photos 0 comments
View profile
Poetry
That Dreary Day
By jessicaah GOLD
Huber Heights., Ohio
jessicaah GOLD, Huber Heights., Ohio
12 articles 17 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There's no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it. "

View profile
Poetry
The World of the Present
By Lost-In-Life GOLD
Whitby, Other
Lost-In-Life GOLD, Whitby, Other
11 articles 0 photos 299 comments

Favorite Quote:
It's never to late, if it weren't for the last minute many things would never get done!

View profile

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 21 comments.

leafy said...
on Jan. 21 2012 at 6:51 pm
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. 

View profile
*blushes* You flatter me, I'm not that great of a writer...But yes, everyone is deemed to be forgotten eventually. I just hope that someday what I've done will amount to some importance, to be remembered at least for a little while...
The Silent Raven said...
on Jan. 21 2012 at 1:26 pm
I am delighted by your devotion... But then, I will be forgotten, however much time that will take. Even the 'great poets' will be. That is the fate of everyone and everything, or else no one and no-thing (and I lean towards the second). But for now, in this moment, I am given peace to know that I am thought of by such a writer as you.
leafy said...
on Dec. 22 2011 at 11:35 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. 

View profile
"There will be no need/To remember me"? I think not. O Feathery Bard, I would say you have great potential to be studied among the other great poets, but that would be a lie. Although I believe you are destined for greatness, you fly an even less-worn path than the others. It would be hard for me to forget you and your delectable meals of eloquence.
Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Nov. 30 2011 at 6:22 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

View profile
Ah, beautifully said, Rayne!
Rayne GOLD said...
on Nov. 25 2011 at 12:31 am
Rayne GOLD, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
17 articles 0 photos 46 comments
View profile
Yes we are so fragile. But I thank God we have poetry to put us back together. And you are defintely poetic.
savetheplanet PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 10 2011 at 1:15 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

View profile
And if you write a beautiful poem about it then I shall be proud to have given you the idea XP.
Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 10 2011 at 9:38 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

View profile
Hmmm. I think I will toy with that idea. :)
savetheplanet PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 9 2011 at 10:23 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

View profile
I think that you can find peace and beauty in the emptiness just as easily as the filled spaces of this world.
Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 9 2011 at 11:21 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

View profile
You think so? It's the emptiness, not the container, that bothers me.
savetheplanet PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 8 2011 at 8:46 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

View profile
I like to think it's a little of both Thesilentraven. :D  An empty container can be quite beautiful you know.
Boosflash DIAMOND said...
on Jul. 26 2011 at 12:46 am
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

View profile
whatever you like, so long as its poetry, and not somecrap teenink randomly throws into the mag.
Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 9:53 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

View profile
I came up with a new word! :)
Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 5:02 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

View profile
Nah. What's poetry really? Is it getting at something large and pretty? Or is it just covering up the emptiness of the container?
Boosflash DIAMOND said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 4:50 pm
Boosflash DIAMOND, Papillion, Nebraska
55 articles 0 photos 2066 comments

Favorite Quote:
What the front door.

View profile
ahhh, youre so poetic.
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 3:20 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

View profile
That sounds right. They can be happy or sad, sunshine or acid. 
Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 2:15 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

View profile

Many thanks!

Lemons, I have found, have had more effect on me as a poet than any other fruit (although most citrus is influential of my work). :) They are rather more complicated than people, I think, and they have the potential to either provide salvation or break your heart.

Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 2:11 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

View profile

Hmm. A word for depressing, honest, and almost artistic? Perhaps you could invent one!

For some reason, I was very glad to hear those particular descriptions of 'Sweeping up Fragments.' It's what I consider to be a raw poem, if you know what I mean. And it's certainly not very cheery.

I liked that your typo made you say 'depressong' instead of 'depressing.' I think that'd be a good word to describe pieces of sad music.

Thesilentraven PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 2:05 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

View profile
A thousand welcomes, oh tallest of heads.
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM said...
on Jul. 25 2011 at 10:02 am
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

View profile
Gorgeous, I too was writing of lemons not too long ago... are they really so sad?
Aderes47 GOLD said...
on Jul. 24 2011 at 11:54 pm
Aderes47 GOLD, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11 articles 0 photos 897 comments

Favorite Quote:
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

View profile
Depressong and eerie but almost had a sense of artistry at the same time. There's got to be a word for that...