Falling Back In The Well
Two poems.
Can you see the two different poems? I’d love to hear your feedback – can you interpret it? Use the comments form below – I look forward to your insight!
On my way to see you, I was,
Almost made it this time, honest;
Not sure how things changed, it’s too subtle,
Yet I found myself here again, back in the bottom of the well.
My intent to help welling up, so strong,
Leading me up the well, at the top;
The fire again I felt, life within,
It’s warmth of meaning, defining who I am.
Almost to the top, this time,
Oh the glorious light, shining on me;
Dazzling to behold, blinding to see,
And yet there was the voice, and into my blindness I fell.
I heard a sound, a quiet call,
Distinct and clear, piercing;
Spake truth, it did,
What I couldn’t hear in the voice, deceived me again.
It’s comfortable here, sitting alone,
My guilt and I, not with you;
Oh – not a guilt over you, not that I shouldn’t be,
But of myself the voice speaks, and their lies my real condemnation.
I remember you, faintly,
Wasn’t it you for whom my heart ached, bruising softly;
I felt it inside, your pain,
Those memories all but gone now, forgotten but impossible to wash away.
Comforted with the fact, you didn’t know it,
I had never told you I was coming, your salvation was so near;
Not a great solace, what you don’t know can’t hurt,
But I’ll use anything to comfort myself, yet your hurt continues still.
“Cast out the beam” I heard it say, but you didn’t hear,
I knew it was right, the solution to all of the problems;
But how to get rid of such a thing, it escapes knowledge,
I cannot find the way, only that I know it is right.
I was on my way to see you, today,
Derailed again, my larger fault has won;
I can’t see how, it’s taken me away,
So I’ll stay right here in the bottom of the well, alone.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I love this sort of thing! I love trying to figure out the meaning of art and poems and stuff like that. So….here’s my take on it.
First of all….wow! This poem is deep and I think it’s powerful.
Personally I was reading it like a person’s relationship with the Lord. Struggling, as we all do, with the carnal mind but lacking enough knowledge to BE out of the well by faith, regardless of circumstances and how they FEEL.
Not seeing GOD’s salvation, they seem to be more self-oriented, focused on their own faults, they are therefore a victim of despair over their own inability to perform ….so their guilty conscience, and the gravity of the carnal mind …keep pulling them down into the well, the pit…preventing them from taking hold of the joy of their salvation.
The specifics of the poem, like the voice (I took it as the carnal mind), the beam… Not sure, perhaps Pride? I’m not sure about the specifics, but the over all feeling was that I was reading about despair.
Am I in the ballpark??
Deb
July 10th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Ok, I getit…Read the first and third lines together as one poem, and the second and fourth as another poem. i interpreted the poems as: This is about a love and about depression. As one finds love , one has the hope of “soaring” climbing out of the psychological well. As love, or the hope of love, is lost, one falls back into the depression “The well”. So, who are you “pining” for? Are you ok?
July 10th, 2009 at 9:25 am
@Deb. You’re right on top of it!!!! Let me help you with this question: Who is the person I was going to see? (hint: It’s not God/Jesus)
July 10th, 2009 at 9:29 am
@Kathy – First, yeah, I’m OK. ;-D
You’re also close, but from a different angle. The two poems aren’t split up by every-other line, but that’s an interesting idea, I’ll have to try it. But you are right that the well is a psychological well, and it is about love, but not “love” the way society means it.
What’s really cool about the split is how both poems are wove together as one. Here’s a hint on the split: one poem is “shorter” than the other.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Thanks for posting about this, I would like to read more about this topic.