" Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends." Virginia Woolf
pressed flowers in a dusty tome
crumbling and dessicated
long since forgotten
in a futile effort
they try to connect with her again on facebook
after all these years
back then she was dealing in a different currency
placing a value on longevity and intimacy
mistakenly thinking that made for close friendship
it never occured to her
there was a position in the pecking order
called long standing superficial acquaintances
just names and numbers to fill a phone book
a last resort when all the vips were busy
and miss Woolf
poor miss Woolf
must have come to the same conclusion
alas, this revelation came too late
as she filled her coat pockets with rocks
and walked into the river late that night
A tragic and painful life with such a sacrificial ending. Perhaps if she understood priests can be friends and some are even poets, life may have been different.
ReplyDeleteI hope she has found peace.
Wow, this is a powerful poem. Long standing superficial relationships - don't we all have some of these? Very sad ending to the poem and to Miss Woolf!
ReplyDeletecrowded loneliness...you can only take so many plastic relationships before rocks in the pocket starts to look good....
ReplyDeleteLOL...you are starting to sound like me!
DeleteWhat a tragic ending for her ~ So said to discover all are superficial and lies after
ReplyDeleteall ~
ouch. painful but all too often true. Well done
ReplyDeleteA sad commentary.
ReplyDeleteA bleak picture aptly painted, successful in that respect.
Pain is fodder for good writing. That's something, ain't it?
Cheers!
No really, Cheers!
Although it is sad, I really like the tone of this.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that Virginia ever doubted her friends and family: her suicide may have been partly to spare them the pain of watching her descend again into madness. (Well, to the extent we can ever know what truly drives people).
ReplyDeleteBut the analogy is a very touching one, the casual befriending on Facebook, the illusion of social richness, the unbearable loneliness of being...
Like this a lot.
Oh, this was a sweet dagger in the back turned for good measure. And yeah, our tools may change, but our human nature cannot keep up...
ReplyDelete"long standing superficial acquaintances": great description. A sad, but well-written piece, with an understandable ending.
ReplyDeleteWonderful poetic depth to honor one of my favorite quotes of all time. Beautiful.
ReplyDeletePowerful poem on relationships.
ReplyDelete