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Picture, Word, Number
by Ronald A PavellasI arrive at a place of great beauty
I wish to capture it, to keep it
I draw a picture of this place
I observe a sweet child
I wish always to have her cherubic face to view
I photograph her
I am transported by emotion
I want to remember this moment forever
I write a poem
I accumulate some money and goods
I want to know its value
I put it all in numbers so I can perceive my wealth
Yet the pictures, the words, the numbers
Are not enough
They are not the things they represent
I cannot recreate and keep the beauty I’ve seen
I cannot capture and keep the sweet smile of the child
I cannot regenerate the emotion I wrote of
The numbers representing my wealth fail to satisfy
Why, then, do I persist
In drawing,
In photographing,
In writing,
In numbering?
This is grasping, clinging
To a ghost of a moment
Yet these moments define me,
Don’t they?
10/08/2011 Author's Note: Written 1998-07-01, rediscovered and transcribed today
Posted on 10/08/2011
Copyright © 2026 Ronald A Pavellas
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 10/08/11 at 02:50 PM We seem to need our ghosts, as you have written so well here. |
| Posted by Mo Couts on 10/08/11 at 11:18 PM Yes, they do. Nicely written, for sure. |
| Posted by Shannon McEwen on 10/09/11 at 04:41 AM I really like the last stanza. For me the use of "I" is distracting here from the gems I see. when I read it with most of the "I" removed (in my head) it was tighter to me. Just my few cents, thanks for the opportunity to read it! |
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