Wooden Heart (Inspired by Magritte for dVerse Poets)

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René Magritte, Discovery (1927), oil on canvas

Wooden Heart

We often wash our minds clean here on memory lane,
so what was a dark portrait is illumined once again.

Daily random memories wash up on the shore
while sadder associations stand waiting by the door.

I do not choose remembering the dark spots in our past.
It is the brighter moments that I prefer to last.

The heart I formed from copper, the heart you carved of wood.
All the broken contracts healed by all the good.

Love stories come in fits and starts and so it was with ours—
we must choose our final endings by our selective powers

to decide what we will sift from memory’s fine sand,
and though the bitter moments haven’t been fully banned,

I daily choose the moments that I will remember—
that March day when our love was young, not your final September.

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Photos will enlarge if you click on them.

When I met Bob, he was teaching art in Canyon Country, California. One day he brought me this pouch necklace he had made of leather in class. Inside was a wooden heart with his initial on one side and my initial on the other. Yes. I had to marry the man. Later, with his encouragement, I became a metalsmith and formed this heart out of copper for him. The pouch now also contains a lock of his hair, a lock of mine, a miniature bar of chocolate–his favorite food on earth–and a tiny dinosaur carved by one of his small sons in the studio where he worked with his dad. When I admired it, he gave it to me, just as Bob gave to me the family he brought with him when we married.

 

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For dVerse Poets “Everything We See”

Click on above link to see the prompt.  Click on THIS LINK to see other poems written to the prompt.

21 thoughts on “Wooden Heart (Inspired by Magritte for dVerse Poets)”

    2. Unknown's avatarSam

      A beautiful poem and also beautiful memories Judy. Just last night I found an old billfold tucked away from years back. Inside was a small torn yellowed scrap of paper. I met Shirley shortly before Christmas, Looking forward to the holidays I asked if she would give me her clothes sizes, which she did. I kept that folded piece of paper throughout our married life in my wallet and used it throughout our married life. Last night it re-appeared. Not as fancy as your mementos, it was written on the back of a cash register receipt, A scratch piece of paper over 60 years later who would ever think such things can bring deep feelings so many years later~?. It is now back in my wallet where it belongs for the few years left.

      SAM

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      1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

        If she remained the same size for all those years, my hat is off to her. Such a sweet memory! Are you prepared for your guests? Can’t wait to see photos, Sam.

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  6. Eilene Lyon's avatarEilene Lyon

    It is a generous gift to those we love to set the sad or hurtful memories aside in favor of the good — that is one way to ensure more good ones to come! What a touching gift and memento.

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  11. kim881's avatarkim881

    The opening couplet is so true, Judy; if we remembered all the dark portraits we’d be constantly depressed. It is also true that ‘love stories come in fits and starts’. The final couplet is so poignant.

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