Objects May Be Closer Than They Appear
The last thing you said to me
came in a dream
‘Where have you been?’ you asked
When I lost you in Paris
we were both naïve
not to have made a plan
Now there are secrets I’m not in on
And sometimes you don’t say a word
I see you but you don’t see me
We still argue over who looked away first
In the dream you were first at the door
You opened then closed it
saying, ‘They aren’t going to let us in’
‘How do you know?’ I asked
How can you be so sure?’
I don’t know how to find what’s been lost
by looking through a rear-view mirror
and even though I never found you in Paris
the door was opened and we did get inside
I apologized in that dream
and now wait for the next one
because death ends a life
but not a relationship
because objects are closer
than they appear
_____Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
July 13th, 2019 10:50 pm
because death ends a life
but not a relationship
because objects are closer
than they appear
Very wise words Colleen. Relationship somehow has a life of its own.
Hank
July 13th, 2019 10:57 pm
A Special Note:
Dear Colleen Ma’am!
Hank is extremely happy today. It is the first time in months that Hank managed a breakthrough onto your blog. All these while you’ve made comments and Hank replied but they were not registered until today. Hank had mistakenly put in a different combination of the particulars. That was the reason.
You’ll be seeing Hank more often forthwith!
Regards
Hank
July 14th, 2019 8:01 am
A very poignant piece. (Although it’s not a song) some of the lines are worthy of Dylan or Cohen.
July 14th, 2019 8:40 am
Yes, death ends life, but not a relationship. I think this is especially true if there had been some discomfort and unanswered questions within the relationship. With death, there is no possibility of resolution.
July 14th, 2019 8:47 am
I think this is about resolution through a continued relationship via dream contacts and spirit work.
July 14th, 2019 10:44 am
Obviously the spirits of our departed loved ones are closer than they appear too. It’s rather unsettling, if you ask me.
July 14th, 2019 12:05 pm
Lovely poem and lovely way to think of our departed friends and lovers who are with us in dreams and perhaps in good spirit too.
July 14th, 2019 1:18 pm
A beautiful depiction of the uncertainties of loss and love. The quality of “there but not there” that can be both confusing and comforting at turns. The truth of someone remaining present in our love for them being the comfort we hold to. You really captured the experience and brought the feelings alive.
July 14th, 2019 1:42 pm
That last line sent shivers down my back. A beautiful poem and melancholy.
July 14th, 2019 1:58 pm
Dreams sometimes lead us to conclusions that we wouldn’t come to in a waking state. Getting lost and opening doors are familiar situations in dreams, they are also Alice in Wonderland-ish, which is reflected in the final lines – and perfect metaphors for relationships.
July 14th, 2019 2:12 pm
I love dreams and even love that dark ones best because they inform me about so much, are brutal in their honesty in revealing my deeper self and my part in things, which ultimately can bring movement/healing/acceptance. They go beyond the stories we tell ourselves.
July 14th, 2019 2:40 pm
This is incredibly eloquent! ❤️ The idea of a continued relationship via dream contacts and spirit work is comforting 🙂
July 14th, 2019 3:54 pm
Closer than you think…I find it both unsettling and comforting. I dreamed of my mother last night but cannot remember the drram. I wish we had made better plans…we all have that regret at some point
July 14th, 2019 7:56 pm
How many of us would be happy with that outcome as we yearn for a loved one. However dream on as it is one thing you can cling on to.
July 14th, 2019 8:06 pm
I see so much in your dream Colleen. Relationships in the dreamscape are very real and offer us perspective and a place to heal and speak to those to have gone to another realm. Thank you for sharing your dream.
July 15th, 2019 7:19 am
because death ends a life but not a relationship
because objects are closer
than they appear…so true and I feel the way you do about dreams and all that they inform us. When my dad passed, he kept coming to me in my dreams and he kept showing me things that he wanted me to remember.
July 15th, 2019 6:19 pm
There is much to contemplate here and I agree things are closer than what they appear especially when we draw them near with our thoughts.
July 15th, 2019 11:51 pm
Relationships don’t end with death. That blows my mind, but so true. Dreams have helped me resolve badly ended relationships, which I’ve eventually come to realize were positive to end.
July 16th, 2019 9:13 am
This is so very good — your commentary in this tone made the message even more effective. The dreamscape world has a life of its own and it is such an interesting tool to use in this verse.
July 16th, 2019 9:58 am
Dream-time meetings can be even more poignant and meaningful they real ones.
July 16th, 2019 11:50 pm
That is a terrific close!