The Titanic
by June Robertson Beisch
So this is how it feels, the deck tilting,
the world slipping away as one
sitting at a desk writes a check.
The Titanic went down titanically
like a goddess glittering,
Pinioned to an iceberg, she sank
almost thankfully while tiny mortals
leapt into the sea
and the band played Nearer My God to Thee.
But what happened to the signals of distress?
Nobody believed it was all really happening.
I still can’t believe that it happened to me.
As a child, I stared horrified at the photograph
and the vision of that scene in the moonlit sea.
We will be one of the survivors, we think,
then something looms up like catastrophe.
All life, it seems, is the morning after
and love is the most beautiful of absolute disasters.
"The Titanic" by June Beisch, from Fatherless Woman. © Cape Cod Literary Press, 2004.
.JPG)
beautiful..thanks for sharing =)
ReplyDeleteReminds me of.....here comes my day.
Thanks Cheryl
ReplyDeleteIt's a good poem but on the sad side.
When was it written, do you know?
lovely and sad.
ReplyDeleteYour poems stagger me. I read them and it is as if the poet has been inside my mind, inside my soul, rummaging in my thoughts and offering them up to me as a glass filled with clear light.
ReplyDeleteCheryl... this poem makes me think the scenes in my mind are past life experiences, but words "love is the most beautiful of disasters" snaps me out of it. I'm not sure if I should respond with a "yeah, heh, yeah" and chuckle? Or "yeah, so true" and have a drink, lol ;)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful either way.
Thanks for posting this cheryl!
ReplyDelete"...writing a check"
ReplyDeletePerfect poem for the day after someone wrote a check to the tax man.
I know, I see things in an odd way.... sigh
I'm glad you all enjoyed this, or at least felt some resonance with it. Erika it was published in 2004 (not by me) and I'm sure the author wasn't an actual survivor of the Titanic. These days Titanic is a metaphor for the unforeseen disasters in our own lives. During Warren's illness I kept saying I felt like I was just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic because I had to go through the motions of everyday life even though I knew things wouldn't end the way we wanted them to.
ReplyDeleteKat chuckle and then have a drink too (though I don't think you do drink). Every love story ends in a parting of some kind. Hell, now I need a drink.
Too bad you have no liquor in the house!
ReplyDeleteYou would bring that up.
ReplyDeleteSilly me. Thanks for the clarification.
ReplyDelete