2009 Poetry Theme Challenges

#21 Unrequited Love

A mighty pain to love it is,
And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.

Catullus circa 100BC

There are few pains as intense or hurts as devastating as those of unrequited love. The object of this love is often a friend or acquaintance, someone regularly encountered in the workplace, during the course of work or other activities involving large groups of people. This creates an awkward situation in which the admirer has difficulty in expressing his/her true feelings, as a romantic relationship may be inconsistent with the existing association; revelation of the lover's feelings might invite rejection, cause embarrasment or might end all access to the beloved. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections.

As the above fragment suggests poetry has long been a way of expressing this intense love so the challenge is to write poems of love that isn't reciprocated.

The Silent Lover

Wrong not, sweet empress of my heart,
The merit of true passion,
With thinking that he feels no smart,
That sues for no compassion.

Silence in love bewrays more woe
Than words, though ne'er so witty:
A beggar that is dumb, you know,
May challenge double pity.

Then wrong not, dearest to my heart,
My true, though secret passion;
He smarteth most that hides his smart,
And sues for no compassion.

Sir Walter Raleigh

The Rival

I determined to find out whose it was -
The portrait he looked at so, and sighed;
Bitterly have I rued my meanness
And wept for it since he died!

I searched his desk when he was away,
And there was the likeness--yes, my own!
Taken when I was the season's fairest,
And time-lines all unknown.

I smiled at my image, and put it back,
And he went on cherishing it, until
I was chafed that he loved not the me then living,
But that past woman still.

Well, such was my jealousy at last,
I destroyed that face of the former me;
Could you ever have dreamed the heart of woman
Would work so foolishly!

Thomas Hardy

Inspirations

Happy quilling

Jem
XXXX

Unrequited Love
Challenge Replies

Jem Farmer: Raindrops to the Sea; Soul-Deep
Ryter Roethicle: Amore Non Corrisposto; Austere Moods; No Más De Amor; optimist
Nia Wynne: Amour non Retournés

Jem Farmer

Raindrops to the Sea

I wish that you could see it too,
how I long to be loved by you.
No longer can my heart be free,
I'm lost as raindrops to the sea.
Each morning seems empty and cruel
like a ring that's mislaid its jewel.
The only abatement, to work,
before my heart goes quite berserk.
But nights are filled with love's extremes
as once again you fill my dreams.
Senses gyrate to meet your gaze,
if only there could be no days.
I figured this love out last night,
as long as I sleep it's all right.

-----

Soul Deep

In dreamland where my heart is free
there is a sweeping willow tree.
Beneath its boughs I often sit
soul-deep in passionate spirit.
There I hear my nightingale sing
and my heart takes flight on love's wing.
And no distance can stand between
a bard and her poetic quean.
Oh if only I should not wake
or hear the alarm's rumbling quake.
In dreams where love can be so real,
so vibrant, yet remains genteel.
For hearts have no reason to weep
in the magical world of sleep.

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Ryter Roethical

Austere Moods

The music plays on, this time without you here
I must reach for my pen and write my thoughts
The music is sad, and my thoughts are so austere.

What is the reason why I feel so very austere?
That's simple; it is because you are not here
You have left, and that pervades my thoughts.

Now all I have is misery to share my thoughts
There is no wonder why my life is so austere
My misery begins at home, in fact right here.

Right here, my thoughts, create a world austere.

-----

Amore Non Corrisposto

In the garden where the wattles grow
The lady in the white silk dress wanders
Pausing here and there
Tenderly touching the flowers
Occasionally moving the blooms forward
So she can capture the scent.
Happily she smiles as she walks past me
Totally ignorant of my presence.
I have dreamt of her often
And wished she would touch me
However, my dreams are only dreams.
In the garden where the wattles grow
The birds call out to her, wanting her back
But she has walked away again.

-----

No Más De Amor

I believed you loved me for a while
But now I realise it was a stupid thought
Because I realise now, it was all for naught
And my thoughts now will not raise a smile.
When first we met my heart you did beguile.
But in reality, it was against all I'd been taught.
In retrospect, I deserved the pain I brought
Please excuse me whist I pause for awhile.
Too many times you were not interested
In what I said, or told you of my dreams,
Instead your mind seemed on another tack
Treating mine as junk, and as if I were dead.
I realised I was never party to your schemes
Now I have left realising there is no going back.

-----

Optimist

I do not care anymore for tomorrow
For any dreams I had have been dashed
Scattered like the ashes of last nights fire.

What of the fuel that created that fire
Should I gather more to use tomorrow
Or has truth been completely dashed?

I will prove that hope has not been dashed
By building a bigger and greater fire.
An optimist ever, I will rebuild, tomorrow.

It is tomorrow, the past is dashed, look at that fire.

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Nia Wynne

Amour non Retournés

In the middle of the blue sea
The man in the black boat smiles freely
Trussing up his lines with the latest bobs
Securely tieing up all the knots, he sobs
Into the briny waves
As his fish he saves
In a bucket of seaweed
So he can save them for his need.
Another vessel had passed by unesteemed
A red one with a heart on it's flag of dreams
Slipping past the black boats prow
Yet unseen above the skippers brow,
And too low for an esteemed captain
Just a pleasant interlude to make him smile again.

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The Poets Garret

2009 Poetry Form Challenge

2009 Poetry Theme Challenge