Bardo
– A Tibetan term for an “intermediate state,” either in the afterlife or in this life when something interrupts our normal sense of certainty and our old sense of reality isn’t available to us. – Pema Khandro Rinpoche
We dissolve like salt
overwhelmed by water
fade like a photograph
overexposed by air
Every death is a big bang
that blows up our pretense
splits us like atoms in two
Wherever you go
a part of me follows
and I carry a part of you
Pared down to presence
we rise and set
come down from the crosses
we are nailed to
Every day is a loss
of yesterday
Every tear feeds a seed
for new ground
___________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United / dVerse Poets Pub
May 23rd, 2020 3:09 pm
This is so powerful, so much the way loss has affected me. Thank you
May 23rd, 2020 9:16 pm
Thank you, Chelsea. It was therapeutic to write and fits in with the collection I’m working on, much about grief and honoring (while keeping my sense of humor), the work of this developmental stage.
May 24th, 2020 12:16 am
Pared down to presence
we rise and set
come down from the crosses
we are nailed to – just love that verse, Colleen.
May 24th, 2020 3:00 am
The reality we are all living through. We try and pretend our way through our days with a mix of hope and thought selection. But, each piece of news is a blow. Well written
May 24th, 2020 3:27 am
A fascinating poem on an interesting concept. (I had not realised that Bardo could apply to a state in this life too.)
May 24th, 2020 4:15 am
This is such a poignant poem, Colleen! I especially love the simile ‘fade like a photograph overexposed by air’ and the lines:
‘Wherever you go
a part of me follows
and I carry a part of you’.
May 24th, 2020 7:26 am
Well expressed, CR; and that closing quartet…WHAMMO!
May 24th, 2020 8:31 am
Really powerful. It certainly fits the mood of mourning that is going on over so much of the world today.
May 24th, 2020 11:35 am
This is…this vibrates in the reading. Amazing.
May 24th, 2020 12:39 pm
“Pared down to presence we rise and set come down from the crosses we are nailed to,”.. This is incredibly potent! ??
May 24th, 2020 2:13 pm
The third stanza sounds sweet and ominous at the same time. Being part of a whole can be wonderful. And devastating, too, when (and if) a splitting comes.
May 24th, 2020 5:38 pm
This hits hard on every emotion I am experiencing now …. many others as well. Thank you for gifting us.
May 24th, 2020 7:31 pm
Giving gratitude that this poem ends on a resounding note of hope! Reminds me of this snippet from the Bible: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126:6)
May 24th, 2020 8:05 pm
..”a part of me follows and I carry a part of you” … so exactly correct, so beautifully written.
May 25th, 2020 11:55 am
This is so timely. I must admit it brings tears. Such powerful, honest, writing.
May 25th, 2020 12:50 pm
I see what you mean about our poems being “kindred spirits.” I savored yours…read a line and stopped to reflect on it…read another line and stopped to reflect on it…
May 26th, 2020 12:23 am
Each of us are essential to another and a single loss diminishes us all. “Wherever you go
a part of me follows” – a sharing of each one’s being.
May 26th, 2020 9:59 am
This is absolutely fabulous. The last line in particular spoke to me, Each tear a seed for new ground. And it harkens back to the first lines with the mixing of salt and water. The middle stanza ends up being like a bow in the middle that ties the two together – we take each other with us even if apart.
May 28th, 2020 3:20 pm
I love this… I feel it’s so very timely when death has moved closer … maybe we will also learn something about death in the end.
May 28th, 2020 3:50 pm
I like the thought that every day is a loss of yesterday and how death “blows up our pretense”.
May 28th, 2020 4:38 pm
Just so. The last stanza resonates with truth.
May 28th, 2020 5:05 pm
Beautiful and moving specially the last stanza.
May 28th, 2020 5:11 pm
This is so very powerful. I think….especially timely in these Covid times. Powerful ending.
May 28th, 2020 7:42 pm
I found myself a bit teary eyed reading, the image of a photo fading in the air brings images of today’s reality into play. Your message is deep and I hope the seeds of growth will be plentiful.