I have a poem up in the latest Ekphrastic challenge. The painting was this Berthe Morisot. Thanks to Alarie Tennille for choosing Weeds.
You can read all of the selected poems here.
This is the second poem I wrote to the prompt.
The name for despair is widow
More is lost than a lover, a father,
a way through the teaming city
built for men,
I lose a shield against misery,
a future for a girl child,
a cushion against cold pavement stone.
River flows golden in the evening sun,
pours over grey slate, colour of pigeons
in the soft light,
and I wish for wings to follow you,
watch the shoulder blades of the child
for their fledging.
Perhaps there will be more,
something of a life to be lived in this golden air,
not simply the dull dragging of the gutter.
The city of men laughs,
bright even beneath the clouds,
full of your absence.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Congratulations! I like both of yours, one a variation on the other. The world goes on. . .
Mine didn’t make the cut this time, so I’m pleased that yours did. 😀
Thank you. Mine are often variations. Same poem just choose which version you prefer 🙂
I went for months not getting a pick but lately I’ve been lucky.
😀
‘a way through the teaming city/built for men’ – London was exactly that at that time, and widowhood would have meant penury for many; you have captured this very powerfully.
Thank you! There were probably few cities in Nineteenth Century Europe where widows without inherited wealth had an easy time.
Congratulations, Jane! I am honoured allowed to read. You have also written a great remembrance to the sad time of widows in the past. Michael
Thank you! It must have been a death sentence if you didn’t have money. No means of earning a living for women, and no future for girl children.
Oh yes! Whom we have to thank for this 😉
😦
😉
So well done. Both. All.
Thank you!
Both are beautiful, but achingly so. (K)
Thank you. Women had so few options if they didn’t have inherited money. Factory work, domestic service or prostitution were about all there was. And with a child, only prostitution was an option. Heartbreaking.
And the world is so quick to judge.
Especially women.