My Despair Grows Tall
My despair grows tall, my shadow long,
yet my bones sing and my body moves.
My greatest desire—to be strong.
My despair grows tall; my shadow longs.
My greatest weakness—choosing wrong.
As though the cardinal’s song could soothe
my despair! I grow weary, my shadow long.
Yet my bones sing; my body continues to move.
13 thoughts on "My Despair Grows Tall"
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This is quite a lament. You had me at “my bones sing.” Beautiful.
Thanks, Linda.
like the repetition of shadow in this
Thanks.
This has some of that hypnotic quality of your villanelles. Eerie.
I was thinking the same thing, about how this poem has the same mesmerizing quality of the villanelles in THE TILLABLE LAND.
I especially love how the first line, “My despair grows tall, my shadow long” echoes, but is totally different because of that ending “s”: “My despair grows tall; my shadow longs.”–Love that.
Thanks. That’s what I was writing toward.
This is a triolet. But I took liberties by not completely repeating the exact line.
That wonderful rhythm really drew me in. “My greatest weakness – choosing wrong.” So relatable.
Thanks, Sylvia.
My greatest desire too
Yes. Thanks!
Title drew me right to it.
Love:
My despair grows tall, my shadow long,
yet my bones sing and my body moves.