Sunday, March 24, 2013

Forgotten Country



I stand by a tree in the playground
of a deserted primary school.
One of thousands that education emptied.
Contraception, emigration
left the land with a wound
that may never heal.
The sound of laughter
torn from the heart.

These thoughts jar.
I kick the sand on the path,
my mind stirred.
The sadness of desertion
cannot be disguised.
.
I walk, there is no hurry,
across the valley
where the barefoot children
of yesterday, ran,
thinking of the stories children made
dying in the mouths of those
who stayed.

(disguised, forgotten, country, hurry, tree, wound, mind, sand, stirred, jar, across, yesterday)


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14 comments:

  1. Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP)March 24, 2013 at 4:33 AM

    WOW! okay then, a very trivial comment for a poem of enormous magnitude - but I was this early Sunday morning quite blown away (another trite but true feeling) by this poem of barefooted children ... gone..

    Brilliant ! Bravo!

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  2. Stan SkiMarch 24, 2013 at 4:39 AM

    Education has a lot to answer for...

    ReplyDelete
  3. vivinfranceMarch 24, 2013 at 6:26 AM

    An intensely sad poem that disguised the wordle words so that I forgot them.

    I wonder if you mean "emigration" rather than "immigration", which fills schools rather than emptying them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. veronicaMarch 24, 2013 at 7:14 AM

      Oh yes, quite right. Emigration has filled the schools of other countries. There are large Portuguese communities all over the world, and Portuguese is the 2nd or 3rd most spoken language in the world!
      Thanks for your good words.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousMarch 24, 2013 at 6:59 AM

    Wow..I can feel that walk and those thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. brenda wMarch 24, 2013 at 8:57 AM

    dying in the mouths of those who stayed...
    Wow. Strong write.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMarch 24, 2013 at 9:01 AM

    Powerful, pertinent, while being both personal and political. Brava!

    Elizabeth

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  7. Old EggMarch 24, 2013 at 7:45 PM

    For every improvement we think we make in life we seem to take a step backwards and lose something precious. Your piece is a poignant reminder of this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Veronica RothMarch 24, 2013 at 8:23 PM

    Gosh, sadness fills me Veronica, because I go back to my childhood in the Czech Republic and then escape and returning for the first time twenty years later. The sadness of those who remained thru those harsh years of communism. Unforgettable. loved your whirl because I love it when I can connect to a piece so easily. Well done you. :)

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  9. J Cosmo NewberyMarch 25, 2013 at 4:37 AM

    That has a real underlying sadness to it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. JazzbumpaMarch 25, 2013 at 8:59 AM

    here in the U.S. where immigration is such a hot topic
    we seldom give a thought to the effects of emigration
    on the homelands

    thank you for this view
    sad and enlightening

    Cheers!
    JzB

    ReplyDelete
  11. flaubertMarch 25, 2013 at 9:23 AM

    A very sad poem, Veronica. Well written.

    Pamela

    ReplyDelete
  12. veronicaMarch 25, 2013 at 3:07 PM

    Thank you for reading my words :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sara McNultyMarch 28, 2013 at 8:02 PM

    `the sadness of desertion cannot be disguised' - so sad, a beautifully written piece.

    ReplyDelete

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