(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

One boss is out sick, the other spent the morning stuck on a broken down train (this does sound like the start of a blues song), two of my colleagues showed up hours late and a third is out sick. It's apparently "fall apart as a cohesive unit" day here in Research. I'm using this to my advantage to goof the hell off.

Also, I've been meaning to post this for a while, once I finally got it finished. I have a friend who recently departed for interesting adventures in a new country, and I did her up a poem to go along with.

For Eimear, Overseas

My ancestors were restless wanderers.
No family plot for them; their simple graves
Are scattered over continents and isles.
Some ashes in the wind. Some lie interr'd
On that Atlantic outpost where you grew,
And now you too have left. To yearn for home
Is natural, though you may love the place
Where you now find yourself. The language new,
Strange manners, stranger food. But not disliked,
despite it may feel traitorous to say.
Or sometimes hated, for its strangeness burns.
This long adventure spans a world too wide,
and home and family seems so far away.
But take it from the son of travellers,
The travel's worth the cost. When you feel far
From lands whose streets you've lost, where my kin's graves
Sleep warmly in a deep unwaking grace,
When winter slices keen down from the north
Remember, where you come from still awaits;
It keeps and saves when strangeness is your place.
It has released you now to come away,
To learn, to triumph, to become the one
Who, in homecoming, makes the land more rich
Than otherwise could be. Be well, be safe,
Love the adventure, love the place you are,
Be well, be safe, be wise. There's nothing more.

Comments

[sanura.livejournal.com]

This also (with your permission, and perhaps Eimear's) goes in the Sam-things-I-might-set-to-music-someday pile. Because sympathy.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm fine with it; I don't believe she'd have any objection but I'll check with her and hit you back just to be sure.

[(Anonymous)]

Not even a little bit. :)

[(Anonymous)]

...of objection. I have not even a little bit of objection.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL, I figured :D SWIFT RESPONSE!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm keeping an eye on this. I feel possessive, like a dragon curled around a treasure that others may admire from a safe distance. :)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you saw her response or not but she definitely does not object :D

[sanura.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome! Thanks for letting me know.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

.....that is beautiful. I knew you could turn a phrase in prose, but poetry can be quite different. Damn, did you ever pull it off.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm never quite sure if my poetry is any good -- I can't be objective about it the way I can about prose for some reason. Nice to know it works :)

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

Man, I know what you mean. Which is why I ask for feedback whenever I have one of my late-night weird free verse writing sprees on tumblr, because finding the balance between what you want to say, how you want to say it, and how it will actually make sense to someone who isn't you can be REALLY HARD.

[podle.livejournal.com]

Omigosh that poem is beautiful. Wow.

[air-ocean.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the poem (although it's not intended for me). Having recently arrived in the US, I feel that it is my "strange place" at the moment, and many of the things in the poem ring true. So thank you.

[aunty_marion]

*Gnarrh*. Or some such grunt of satisfaction. I approve wholeheartedly - your word choices are pretty much impeccable (the only one I'd quibble at slightly is "despite it may feel...", but otherwise...). And that one line of monosyllables! Brings to mind the sonnet that Lord Peter Wimsey completes for Harriet Vane in "Gaudy Night", where I seem to remember he does something similar. *gnarrh*, I say, and congratulations.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Holy crap THAT'S why that line is so long. I was convinced it had to be out of meter because it was so much longer but no, it's just all single-syllable words.

Oh thank god. :D

[aunty_marion]

(There's actually another one, earlier - 'And now you too have left...' - but it doesn't stand out as much as being single-syllabled, for some reason!)

[radiophile.livejournal.com]

Goofing off at work is a sacred duty.

What a beautiful poem ♥ Best of luck to your friend on her adventures! :)

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

*quiet applause*

Wonderful!

[kukkaseksi.livejournal.com]

I have you to thank for indirectly introducing me to Eimear. So thank you for that. And thank you for the lovely poem.

[(Anonymous)]

I absolutely love the whole thing, but I have two favourite moments:

But take it from the son of travellers,
The travel's worth the cost.

and

Remember, where you come from still awaits;
It keeps and saves when strangeness is your place.
It has released you now to come away,

The first is so reassuring in a strange new place, and the second is comforting, and makes me feel like I still have a connection to home.

Thank you so much. It makes me crazy happy. ♥

-Eimear

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm glad you like it. :)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

right what the doctor ordered, a poem from sam! Amazing amazing amazing.

[tieleen.livejournal.com]

This is lovely.

[lokifan]

YAY! This is lovely, and I am about to head off overseas myself, so :D Mind if I stick it in my poetry month posts? (With a link here obvs.)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I don't mind, but I'd like to check with Eimear :D I'll let you know!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Oh god I swore I replied to this -- she said it's fine!