I’ll Open the Window
Our embrace lasted too long.
We loved right down to the bone.
I hear the bones grind, I see
our two skeletons.
Now I am waiting
till you leave, till
the clatter of your shoes
is heard no more. Now, silence.
Tonight I am going to sleep alone
on the bedclothes of purity.
Aloneness
is the first hygienic measure.
Aloneness
will enlarge the walls of the room,
I will open the window
and the large, frosty air will enter,
healthy as tragedy.
Human thoughts will enter
and human concerns,
misfortune of others, saintliness of others.
They will converse softly and sternly.
Do not come anymore.
I am an animal
very rarely.
I choose this poem because it isn't about light, happy, flawless love like many of the others. Theres an hoesty to it. The beginning of the poem is pretty clear as to what it means. The speaker and his/her significant other have held on too long. The love is gone, and it's worn them down. Then they finally separate. The second half is less clear, but my interpretation of it is that the speaker feels the melancholic freedom that follows a break up, and knows that the choice to split up was a healthy thing to do.
The feelings felt at the height of a relationship are often not how someone truly feels. They get caught up with the idea of love and project their feelings for it onto the person their with. The speaker recognized that they were beyond that point, that it was time to be honest to themselves. The love just wasn't their and it wasn't healthy to stay together without it
I like the honesty in the poem as well. It is not fake and bubbles like most love poems. Instead, it states the harsh reality of the pain and loneliness caused by love. The line about the skeletons is very powerful. It shows how the love was worn so are and it was so used, that there was noting left to give. You can also sense strength in the poem. Although weak, the author had power to let go of the person who had destroyed them and there is still hope.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caeley, I like the honesty of the poem and I love how honestly you look at it. You're very clear with your interpretation of it and I really appreciate that. I think that how you talk about the reality of a relationship is really refreshing. Not many people will admit that sometimes loving someone deeply just wears you down, and I like the way that you're honest about it. Great job!
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