The Cardinal Virtues

[_Shannon_]

The Cardinal Virtues

There is a madwoman's voice within me which rages,
subdued always by cowardice cloaked as surrender.
There are places on my body which will never be kissed again;
I lock them away and pretend they are courage.

My face is riddled with wrinkles as a road map,
over and around the contours of all that will never be.
My shuddering arms hold my heart in my hands for you;
I keep feeling it all and pretend it is wisdom.

There is an empty desert wind within me which howls,
seeping through the cracks of this vacant facade.
There are words , desolate and abandoned aching to be said;
I swallow them and pretend they are temperance.

My body is racked with the neglect of many seasons,
not knowing anymore what it feels like to be held.
My dishonored soul reaches out to others who suffer,
I walk with them and I pretend this is justice.

2.16.2011

[PrinceMyshkin]

This is a devastating poem, awesome in its austere authority. I kept wanting to hold up one line as an example of its hard-won wisdom but then there would be another and another. It's a poem written without an iota of effort to please or charm us, or even to cajole our pity.

Brava! Brava!

[Delta40]

This has to be one of the best poems I have read on Lit-Net Shannon. The lines

There are places on my body which will never be kissed again;
I lock them away and pretend they are courage.

I keep feeling it all and pretend it is wisdom.

I swallow them and pretend they are temperance.

I walk with them and I pretend this is justice.

provides insight into the stark rationalisations we must make as we journey through our lives.

Bravo to you! You have my vote for Poet of the Day!

[everyadventure]

This is so well-written. You really capture how wives and mothers offer themselves up in self-sacrifice, and can only hope to find comfort and consolation in the belief that they are acting virtuously.

[the facade]

provides insight into the stark rationalisations we must make as we journey through our lives.

Agreed!

Shannon - the form, the painful self-awareness of redirecting the depicted emotions to "cardinal virtues" really did it for me.

good job!

[_Shannon_]

Wow y'all...thanks! <blushes>

[dyne7]

'the neglect of many seasons' great line right there. sums up the entirety of the poem, personal, and evocative.

[yuka]

many lines full of sparks of wisdom.

thank you for sharing.