Pattern and Repetition

Ancient footsteps

Take me to a time

When leaving was discovery

And Mariana was just a poem

Cities were of concrete

Of steal and unshaven men

I still hear the footsteps

Lovingly in these streets I left

Dark, with the sound of every

Setting name

It was a time

To which we belonged

When self pity was a short poem

Marianas recited gently

In distant granges

... Time has since forgotten

(It has it hushed, yet has it delivered)

The call we often surrendered

To gentle evening memories

Of Mariana waiting 

But he never cometh

For leaving was discovery

Of what we already

Knew

January 22, 2020

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2020

Background: I re-read Tennyson’s “Mariana” published in 1830. I have read it, as I do with most poetry, at various stages of my life to see if it has acquired a new meaning, or if it has a new message since my last reading. Tennyson’s poem is based on Shakespeare’s “Mariana” in Measure for Measure where she hopelessly waits  for Angelo, her lover.

As for the reference for self-pity, it is from a poem by D.H. Lawrence, by the same name. It is a short poem (only four lines) but it has often returned to my recall as a thought when I read poetry. It is perhaps its short for line breath that breezes through lines by other poets.

Finally, the photo is of a sunset I watched a couple days ago from my window. I thought it fit well with the mood of the poems I was reading.