Jacob
Old wild creature
has burrowed
into bones.
Residence glimpsed
in shadowed hollows
at joints.
Dreams of past
movement
exhaled on soft
grumbling sigh.
Don’t know when
he came, how long
he has been,
friend or foe?
Only know
he is tired, seeks
to curve himself
into cave
of my darkness.
Tells me,
there is nothing
left to fear.
Elizabeth Crawford 5/29/2009
*Originally published in Artery IV: Root River Poets at Spectrum Gallery
Soul's Music 
Jacob has always been a name i use in poetry ( I have a Grandson 18 named Jacob). In my poetry he is a sad man like in this one you wrote. I felt a sadness for this jacob in your poem.
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Connetta, the name Jacob means “supplanter”, that one who comes to take the place of another, as Jacob did with Esau. Here he comes to replace youth, with age and its own peculiar tasks and realitites. He is a gift, just as each stage of our development holds its own awareness and knowing. He is the badger who lives down beneath the roots of things. He came to replace the panther of my youth who roamed silently, always alert and moved with grace. Jacob has arthritis and moves with a bit of difficulty, but his mind and spirit are never slow. Thank you for helping me to see and say that.
Elizabeth
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Oh the burden of aging.. Arthresis setting into bones… Love the sense of an old man settling inside.
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Only know
he is tired, seeks
to curve himself
into cave
of my darkness.
This is so powerful!!
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This poem speaks and sings from those cave walls.. essentially we all must reach a time when there is nothing left to fear..but sometimes we need someone to remind us of that – on which i think you know my ‘real’ name – the surname of which chosen exactly because it meant ‘supplanting the father’ (in my limited understanding at the time..)
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He’s well and truly taken residence in me, blast him!
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Jacob is a wise messenger!
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Sooooooo interesting. I love the name and the poem about “him.”
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I FEEL this poem, have the same weariness, the curling into oneself of the Terminally Tired………love the wild creature “burrowed into bones”. I posted a Wild Woman poem from 2013 today, reflecting Wild Woman had a lot more energy then than she does now. Now she is Weary Woman, LOL. I so relate to your poem, every word and line. Beautifully done.
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There is such a great structure to this poem. Those short, staccato lines add, in their own way, to your message here.
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I loved this–and I think you and I are somewhat on the same wavelength today!
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oh how age does not come alone, well penned
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yes there comes a point when nothing is left to fear…come the painful old age, burrowing in the bones…this is why i love poetry, saying everything in such deep language….love your title….
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Haunting yet comforting.
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