Heart stopped—
Yellow leaves
On the river.
Mind swims—
Golden sunbeam
Of heaven.
Standing frozen,
World swirls
In my eyes,
At my feet;
Trees swaying
With breath I’ve
Forgotten to breathe.
Pulse racing
Right down
To my fingers—
Light touch,
Just a breath,
Brush of a feather
Words spoken,
Unheard
Through silence,
Pounding of souls,
Unknown
Bridges comfort
Balancing edge
Of who,
Where I am;
Beauty surrounding—
Forest, water,
Sky
And them,
There,
In front of me
Those intricate,
Melted eyes.
Sweet, wondrous
There—
Right there,
Reaching out
Souls,
Maybe
Hearts beat,
Become one.
There’s warmth
On my skin,
Maybe sun,
Maybe them.
To early to know,
To tell
But willing, still,
To take the leap
To start the fall.
WORDS FROM THE AUTHOR
Haylee Geisthardt
I honestly wrote the first draft of this poem while I was sitting in my Sociology class. It’s based on a scene from something else I’m writing, the beginning of a relationship. It’s an exhilarating, nerve-wracking, and beautiful moment, which is what I tried to convey in this poem. I really loved the imagery of this scene, the glow of the world and the beauty, so I hope I conveyed it well.
REVISION DECISION
I wrote out several drafts of this poem while I was in my Soc class, each one longer and more detailed than the last. After that, it sat for a little while before I decided to type it up for this assignment. I then found my rough draft and typed it up, making a few changes. Most of the editing I did was working on word choice, spacing, and punctuation.
Trees swaying
With breath I’ve
Forgotten to breathe.
These words reminded me that I needed to take a breath too. Your writing is very powerful, full of imagery and heart. It leaves so many questions in my mind, as a good poem should. I hope you’ll keep writing. You are very good!
Haylee, I appreciate your risk-taking! And isn’t that what life and love is? These lines are my favorite!
“But willing, still,
To take the leap
To start the fall.”
“Trees swaying
With breath I’ve
Forgotten to breathe.”
Gosh. I had cut these words before I saw that Jennifer had shared them back too. But they are so beautiful. You do capture this moment. The poem glows.
And as you know, sometimes the poem that wants to be written wants to be written now – even in Soc. class!