Empty Drawers

Consider the depth
of an empty drawer.
My tears can’t fall
far enough
to reach the bottom
where seldom would a hand
run across its core.
Instead, they bead off the top coat,
that solid front present before me.
Dried, old wizened oak,
how I long to sink into
the untreated grain
and apply my own tung oil
with a seasoned brush.
You say the satin sheen is chipped,
yet I know how chiffoniers mount up
like shallow rag gatherers of time,
crammed and unable to slide shut.
But the imperial measurements
of thought out dimensions
will form the thickest dovetail design
which will stand the truest test
and hold the largest capacity of all.
It is only that drawer
which my finger joints
strain to stroke the surface of.

Oh Delta, you're finally back!!!! I was worried! when you're away for too long (and this WAS TOO LONG!) without notifying us, I suspect you are being revisited by your most disturbing "guests"... So glad you're back, and with this powerful, poignant verse which "took me by the throat"... you have this unusual talent to use an ordinary object, a furniture, a crumb... and tell your whole story through its means... there is here time and pain, loss and all those unbearable emotions which the reader shares while safe from any sentimentality whatsoever. Do you have a file where you keep your very best? Add this one to it -- and look for a publisher, for you're amazing. Happy coming back. I also mean this Forum (and I personally) is breathing better with you around!

What a wonderful response from Bar to your wonderful poem! You had me with the opening two lines and then you tightened your grip on me with the next two. You have the knack of speaking of sadness without ever getting maudlin.

Welcome back rivermouth, if you are actually back. You extend a metaphor well :D . And what Prince said :)

Delta!

You do it like no-one else

You say the satin sheen is chipped,
yet I know how chiffoniers mount up
like shallow rag gatherers of time,
crammed and unable to slide shut

Yeah yeah!

An amazing piece. Like Bar, I am always amazed at tour ability to infuse the ordinary with magic and sound. It is a testament to your ability that the same parts of the poem appeal to each of us who have commented. Like Prince, I think the first two lines demand the readers attention. That first sentence is open and intriguing the way some people are skilled at creating the field for a continuing and interesting conversation with an inclusive opening comment.

Thank you, dearest friends.

Delta! Long time, no see. Not only are you back, but with a new piece that
is undeniably "Delta-esque!"