For We Write Poems Prompt #137: Peas In A Pod
http://wewritepoems.wordpress.com/
And Poets United Wonder Wednesday: Upon Reflection
http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/
Going Inside
You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself.
__Rainier Maria Rilke
Letters To A Young Poet
Even in imagination, feared
coming face to face with child
I’d left alone, years ago,
to grow wild there, deep inside
my own inner darkness.
But, that day, she gently
took my hand, led me
to a high mountain meadow.
Passed a glass of sweet lemonade,
then bid me, “Sit, watch. Listen.”
Stepped out to dance, flitting through
trees, like soft summer breeze,
green leaves rippling with sunlight.
Humming unknown rhythms as she
moved to music of her own making.
Fed me with her fingertips, wild
fruit, she’d spent all those years
tending, here at center of our
shared soul, in secret garden
she alone had created.
Elizabeth Crawford 1/9/13
Soul's Music 
Lovely, Elizabeth – your inner child is a delightful creature.
Typo in last line of 2nd stanza “them bid me”(- then?, – although it is not necessary anyway!
She wasn’t at the beginning. She could cuss like none other. But, the inner child is also the wild child, so we must do as Jane Goodall did, just sit and listen for a while. Let her get used to our presence. She is our creativity and the listening is worth the learning we receive. Thanks Viv, for catching the typo, I was tired last night,
Elizabeth
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Wow! That has fired up my imagination like you wouldn’t believe, Elizabeth! Just wonderful.
Thank you Misky, your words made a warm place inside of me and my wild child says “thank you” to yours,
Elizabeth
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It seems that she flourished.
That she did, Barbara. Estes tell us that nothing is ever lost from the human psyche, nothing. Rilke tells us to go inside for a very good reason. It’s all there waiting for us,
Elizabeth
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I like the idea of wild child & secret garden!
You should Irene, your own wild child has been busily creating her own secret garden and sharing it with the rest of us for years. It is an extaordinary place. Thank her for me, please.
Elizabeth
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I so love this poem – love the inner wild child, the listening, the knowing. Beautiful, my friend.
Sherry, just watched the video on your site. Incredible, beautiful, and inspiring, my friend. Your own inner child is alive and well, thank you.
Attention to anyone reading this: you don’t want to miss this video. http://stardreamingwithsherrybluesky.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth
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I love the gentleness of this, the dance of words and memory. Thank you for your visit and comment. 🙂
I have discovered, to my own amazement, that there is much gentleness within this space where she abides. Thanks for the read, Yousei,
Elizabeth
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This is so beautiful! “Hummed unknown rhythms as she
moved to music of her own making.”
Thank you Denise, that’s one of my favorite lines as well,
Elizabeth
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Going inside…To seek the unlimited imagined gardens…
To a tea party we will go, together?
Thanks for your visit to The Artful Dodger. Once I was playing with long lasting bubbles (just a few years ago and captured in a photo a bubble that landed on a step. Looked like a modern art painting from a museum, As the step almost split the bubble in half. I liked it so much I enlarged it and put it in a circular frame.
🙂
Alice’s tea party is an incredible story to work with as a means of finding and making ones own myth. Was thinking about that the other day, Jules, funny you should mention it. Thanks for the bubble story, it sounds intriguing and I’d like to see the photo.
Elizabeth
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This poem reminded me of the “dream of the wild child -” the child that most of us carry within us, but not everyone pays attention to.
Marian, that’s exactly what the poem is about. That child is the very essence of our creativity. If we fail to search her out, we miss a great deal of our own experience, as well as adventure. Thanks for nailing it,
Elizabeth
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Late night, seat of my pants, but Elizabeth I think this may be my most favorite ever of your poems. While that means what? Maybe don’t matter much (praise being an odd bedfellow indeed!). However what is so, is that my sense of feeling, sense of intimacy, was so immediate and unmistakable reading this poem. In the moment, don’t even care why-or-how, but thank you for the clarity of this poem’s voice. I understand from “inside” my self. Beautiful.
And if you’ll pardon my friend, just one thought as I was reading (my thoughts catching at the oddest moments), I wonder about that one key phrase, “Sit, watch, and listen.” Here is the heart of this poem I felt, and wondered if it might be enhanced by a strong “pause”, as in, “Sit, watch. Listen.” That makes the briefest “stop”, changes the tempo and tension both (just subtle, yea, but… ). Maybe it’s because I wanted to linger on that moment, allow that message time to be heard with a new breath there. (and ignore me please, if you wish!)
Thanks again for this wonderful poem. ~neil
Look Neil, I’m still listening, lol. Thanks so much, my friend,
Elizabeth
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It would be so interesting if we could go back to see our inner child from years ago! I’m just discovering Rilke – love the quote you used!
Oh, but we can Robyn, just close your eyes and listen. I believe that is what Rilke is telling us, to go inside and listen for the sound of our own heartbeat, the sound of our own voice, speaking our individual truth. In symbolism, the child is always the original source of Creativity.
I managed to lose my original copy of Rilke’s letters, but found them online here: http://carrothers.com/rilke_main.htm
Elizabeth
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I’m all about finding and nurturing my inner child, since I was abused as a little girl. This child seems to have been quite busy while the narrator has been going through the motions of living her life! This is reflection and connection in one. Beautiful, Elizabeth, and nice to see you at Poets United, Peace, Amy
Thank you Amy. I withdrew for a while, doing other things. Have slowly been getting my feet wet again. I didn’t find my inner child until I was in my thirties. She was angry, at first, but also very quick to forgive. I am so grateful,
Elizabeth
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This piece calls to me- from a fog. My inner child was so sweet. I miss her.
I wrote a letter to my inner child and posted it here: http://1sojournal.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/to-my-inner-child/
she truly is a treasure and a secret weapon.
Elizabeth
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So glad to see you back in the Poetry Pantry, Elizabeth. It’s like ‘old times.’
Interesting how even if you leave an inner child alone for a time, they grow in their own way nonetheless, and eventually DO lead us into new directions if we finally listen to them. I like the lesson of ‘sit, watch, and listen’ and the secret garden at the center of the shared soul!
And I’m so glad to be back, Mary. I truly do have some Hermit tendencies and periodically have to withdraw, sometimes not even aware of doing so. I would agree with you about the inner child and the growth process. I found her in my early thirties and she has been an incredible presence since then. She is the very source of our creativity and I wouldn’t have found that garden without her.
Elizabeth
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What a delightful change from the typical approach to tales of the inner child. You’ve empowered her, given her accomplishments and confidence. I love it, Elizabeth!
http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2013/01/13/feckless/
It truly is a much longer story, and this is the result of many things coming together. We’ve had many adventures since then. Thanks for reading and commenting,
Elizabeth
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Children and gardens really seem to go together, don’t they? I enjoyed this very pleasant read.
Thank you PhotoDiction and welcome to Soul’s Music,
Elizabeth
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