Sleeping on Train Tracks

[KirbyVictorious]

Poor Delilah. Her story saddens me.

~
Delilah, my dear,
Do you ever feel empty?
Do the cold corridors of your heart
Ever echo and throb for…
…what was his name again?
Are there days when your raven hair
Falls limp and dirty
When your golden dresses are frayed
When your charm is wilted?
Days when you don’t feel safe anywhere--
When you can glide between sleeping nurseries
And the Coliseum, the Tower of London
Your own room in your white-painted home
And feel the same
As if danger lurks in everything,
No matter which place on earth your dress-hems whisper.
Days when you stretch out on the dirt roads
Like a sacrifice to a heathen God,
Knowing that cars and carriages and heavy feet will come
Knowing they will swerve and miss, leaving you whole but bleeding.

Delilah,
Why do you say, “I have no heart”?
You feel with the holes in your chest
Grope your way through the dark emotions
In search of the dull, warm, safe light of comfort.
But to no avail.
The sun shines brightly around you
But you can’t see it through gray-filmed eyes.
You stand tall, in your red dress, in your finery and royalty
And stare out from the steps of the temple
Outwardly, you appear to be vigilant, hawk-eyed
Waiting to cast the hapless, clumsy suitors from the white marble steps.
But inwardly, your soul suffers,
Your fingers tremble, ache with the imprint
From centuries ago, the memory of soft, sticky warmth against those hands.
You look not for fault; you search the horizon
Like lonely brides watch for the tiny masts of ships
You are waiting, though you know there is nothing left to come.
To the mortals below, you appear as Aphrodite’s equal;
But in your heart, you are her groveling slave
Spending every moment searching for the tiniest flick of the wrist
That means your nameless, faceless sailor
Will remember you, and you him
His ship will appear on your horizon
And your body will find his warmth again.

Pick up your pieces, Delilah.
Don’t spend your days nourishing a false hope.
Spread your gaze; search not the horizon
But the base of your lonely peak
Scribe your own fate--
Descend;
And search for the one
That will make your sun shine anew.

~

I liked it better in the beginning, I think.  

[Chrysanthemum Moon]

KirbyVictorious

No matter which place on earth your dress-hems whisper.

I like the ending the best. Better transition between the sailor's-wife to Aphrodite analogy.  

[Serenity Reed]

Quote:

"Like a sacrifice to a heathen God"

'god' is supposed to be uncapitalized.

Quote:

Knowing that cars and carriages and heavy feet will come
Knowing they will swerve and miss, leaving you whole but bleeding.

heart this line.

And, which Delilah are we talking about here?  

[d e s d e m o n o]

The first stanza is my favorite. So yes. =]

I miss Delilah the barber, sometimes...  

[KirbyVictorious]

Um. In-General Delilah? A Delilah that did something, but not anything in particular, one would think. I'm not entirely sure.

And thanks des and chryssy. >< I feel better.  

[Serenity Reed]

Biblical Delilah or Hey-there-Delilah or what, Kirbs? stare  

[d e s d e m o n o]

Serenity Reed

Biblical Delilah or Hey-there-Delilah or what, Kirbs? stare

See, that's what I said!

Biblical Delilah, barber Delilah, same diff.  

[Chrysanthemum Moon]

I thought I was an author? Or a random name? stare  

[KirbyVictorious]

Chryssy: ? sad

Des&Ser: You know, I think she might be a combo of both. Like a Delilah that really liked samson but was a b***h and is now sorry, and then like hey there Delilah who's waiting for some random ugly guy to come home, only she doesn't know who he is yet or if he even exists. sadddd.  

[Chrysanthemum Moon]

Well, in the biginning you mentioned story, so I immediately thought of authors. But yeah, my question was similar to Reed and Dessy's.  

[KirbyVictorious]

I meant the story she was in. Like the poem. Sorry about that...  

[Tak-Jak]

*shrugs*

I still don't really know what to say.  

[KirbyVictorious]

lesigh. ):  

[Voxxx]

There's a song called "Samson" told from Delilah's point of view. It's Spektor--lovely. I know I've made you listen to it before. I've never heard of someone who didn't think her story was sad. The writing was lovely, as always.  

[KirbyVictorious]

Avoiding subject matter again? And yes, I thought about the song as I was posting this. It's sad from both points of view I think.