Scattered Shards (Inspired by Broken China)

Scattered Shards
Inspired by "Far from the Harbour Wall" by Richard Wright

Once upon a time I believed in hope
I believed in optimism and the promise of
A shared life of wonder together
But so suddenly it is all gone now
Slipped my grasp in a way I can’t understand
Your world has closed to me
Your dreams dashed to shards on the cold stone floor
Your figure pallid and unmoving
Is draining day by day and I do not know
When or how it will ever end

No one told me how one shatters a heart
No one told me the meaning of all this pain
And no one speaks to me now
As I stare helplessly into a dulling gaze
What your heart endures mine reflects
While you lie abed I stare at the moon
I pace, I tremble, I cry, I search
Through all the night
Driving myself to the verge of collapse
Each day as I struggle to hide the fear in my eyes
The fear that comes from an effort in vain
I want to be strong for you
For better or for worse
In sickness and in health
But it’s only an image for the truth is
That I live each hour the insomniac
With my weariness and desperation

If there were an answer I would tell you
If I could restore your heart I would risk my own
If I were a different man I could make things right
But instead I stand at once two feet and two leagues apart
From you, staring at the mute and heartless orb
Plying it silently for the answers cruelly denied
Show me why we are plunged into night
Show me what thing it is I have done
Show me how to ease all this pain
Show me the face of this nameless terror
I cannot fight what my eyes cannot see
I cannot understand what is alien to me
I am frightened
I am lost
And I hurt
With your pain

What is this?
What have I done?

-----

This poem is a reaction to "Far from the Harbour Wall" on Broken China. I have no way, of course, to know what actually went through Mr. Wright's mind, or how he actually was at the time that all of this was going on, so it was conjecture. Certain lines really grabbed my attention, though, and I began to see as if seeing reflection in place of my own, a man who has been brought painfully face-to-face with something that seems to be trying to destroy the one he loves while he watches. He is a sensitive man, and he feels everything she endures as if it his his pain. He knows very little about what is happening--he wonders what he has done that could have caused something so consuming, so total (of course, we know there is nothing he could have possibly done that could cause depression). It gnaws at him. He does not sleep; he cannot, because his heart will not let him alone. He wants desperately to do something--but he does not know what, and this simply plagues him all the more terribly.

_________________
"But now the day has broken, can see in better ways,
A path leading to the light, a hope that never fades.
All power to the brave."

--"Along the Shoreline" by Richard Wright

I've got a question...does anyone here think Mr. Wright would be offended or hurt if he saw this? If I ever find a way to contact him, I think I want to send this...

(My intention would be to show him just how powerful I found his work to be...a compliment.)

_________________
"But now the day has broken, can see in better ways,
A path leading to the light, a hope that never fades.
All power to the brave."

--"Along the Shoreline" by Richard Wright

Really nice poem. Too bad I don't have the album. Probably it is a great album.

Oh by the way, have I ever told you that you're a talented...aaa... female? :smile:

Thanks again. I think you would do well to check out the album at some point--the stuff that inspired this was very powerful, to say the least. But anyway, thanks a lot for your taking the time to read this!

Very good. I don't think he would be offended at all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I'm glad you l ike it! I guess I just worried a bit since I was basically trying to assume his point of view for the poem.

I don't think he actually wrote the lyrics.

Of course, being so familiar with the album, I am fully aware of that! :smile:

However, that does not stop it from being his point of view. Have you, by any chance, read the interviews he gave at the time of the album's release? Everything he relates makes it very clear that it was in fact his story. He simply needed someone else to help him get his feelings out onto paper. But that makes it no less his experience.

Believe me...I understand him--if I were to write an album, I would be the other way around. I would need SERIOUS help with the music, because although I play piano, getting out a tune I find appealing is challenging, to say the least. But if it were an album born of my experience--I think the emotions conveyed in that music (emotions I would've had to relate to that musician) would be no less my emotions.

I'm afraid I made very little sense there, but I felt like I had to try and explain that.

The album would have some nice lyrics tho! :smile:

And, BTW, how do you make the Smilie guy that laughs?

type colonlolcolon or

That is very kind, Da_Floyd_Fan...of course, I can't just talk into a tape recorder, or that really wouldn't be music! (Which is why I would need serious help from a true musician like Mr. Wright...too bad that is impossible! :smile

Nothing impossible. Except fucking yourself although twatty told me he almost accomplished that feat.

Thanks for the encouragement--and a laugh!

Anytime, I am here for your ammusment.