When Cupid’s arrow pierced me;
it only nicked your breast,
but left me bleeding, lonely, scared, repenting
left me to my precious mourning;
to my seascape sorrow, frozen and marooned,
left me far from the harbor,
tied to the helm of my sinking ship.
Shipwreck by Ivan Aivazovsky
The word for the quadrille at dVerse today is harbor and Lillian hosts. The Quadrille is a 44 word poem that has to include the word of today in the body of the poem.
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September 24, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Unrequited love hurts. Wonderful imagery of a soul lost.
Thank you… why don’t you try to join the Quadrille… 44 words is a lot of fun.
I do look at the prompts. I am tempted. I’m not sure my poetical skills are adequate, but I don’t think I’ve turned down one of your invitations yet so watch this space. 🙂
Every second week we’re on.
Sadness midst saltwater, nice. Our illustrations were similar and our muses were cousins. I leaped into political metaphor and you saluted romance lost; what fun .
What a tumultuous quadrille you’ve dashed against the rocks today, Bjorn! Shipwreck is a great metaphor for a broken relationship. There’s more than a hint at mythology, too.I adore the lines:
‘left me…
to my seascape sorrow, frozen and marooned,
left me far from the harbor,
tied to the helm of my sinking ship’.
So sad – hello, Bjorn, my friend, I do sail into your harbor on occasion *smiles*
Love to see you writing here again…
So far from my own safe harbor.
Salt water and tears – the two join together well. Unrequited love is sad, broken love is even worse.
I love this, especially the line “left me to my precious mourning”
Precious mourning – terribly perceptive line!
I think sometimes people in sorrow treasure their mourning more than their healing.
Profoundly true
Oh Bjorn…..I wish you were sitting next to me when I finished reading your poem as I let out a very audible “ohhhhh….” Having spent at least one or two months in Bermuda for the past five years, this poem of shipwreck hits very close to home. Bermuda was a totally uninhabited island (no indigenous people) when two ships bound for Jamestown were wracked by a hurricane and crashed in what is now Bermuda. They stayed one year, cutting the native cedar trees to rebuild their ship. Even though they did not have freezing weather…..I’m certain the hurricane with gale force winds and the daunting task of being the only humans trying to survive and at the same time rebuild their ship for escape, would run close to the feelings expressed in this poem. Just a wonderful write!
Seascape sorrow – love that. Alliteration, and imagery perfectly aligned. Nice write altogether.
Oh, that first line set the tone for what was to come. When two hearts aren’t “pierced” to the same depth…well, there could be a feeling of loss for one. Beautifully writ, Bjorn.
Love can be cruel this way. Great imagery.
Drama on the high seas! I love your romantic images here, Bjorn.
I love this poem. What an apt metaphor. I love that you described mourning as precious. It is, isn’t it?
And thank you for the reminder about the quadrille. I haven’t written a poem in so long, I probably don’t remember how. I will try tonight if I can though.
I look forward to your poem… but I will not be able to read until tomorrow evening our time… it’s bedtime here.
Love tends to do that to us. I remember those feelings very well from eons ago! Love the picture and the poem fits it so well.
That is painful indeed. Love the metaphor of the sinking ship specially:
seascape sorrow, frozen and marooned.
Oh, this is bitter and painful to experience — I too admired your apt metaphors of shipwreck and “seascape sadness” to evoke this image and its corresponding emotions. Precious is a wonderful word to refer to this kind of mourning. Very well-penned.
Somehow unrequited love is stronger and more capable of facing life’s hurdles and storms. Powerful write ❤
This piece actually gave me chills. Powerful in its sadness, yet raw and beautiful. Nicely done!
You made me feel it.
Beautiful, tragic… Bergmanesque. (forgive me for that!)
Ah, that arrow! Well penned Björn
Pat
Wow, Bjorn, love that is not returned certainly feels like you are on a sinking ship…your imagery is awesome.
Wow. Great quadrille.
A love that could have been, but never was!
A one-sided romance can sink Cupid’s victim in tumultuous waves of emotion…a dramatic quadrille for sure!
I think we may be traveling the same sea tonight. Aye, I hear the mournful mariners song.
Ah…a fresh take on unrequited love.
Beautiful!
The analogy of heartbreak and sinking is so well done!
really felt the tumultuous sea and her waves in your words Bjorn. just like being in a stormy love affair, pulling us away from the safety of what we want it to be – love the photo you paired with this
Ah love, it certainly can feel like being drowned and dragged down onto the rocks. Haha
“seascape sorrow” says it all. Wonderful.
A wonderful metaphor–unrequited love as a shipwreck. I really liked this one.
Love the dramatic tone to this one.
You turn the brevity of 44 words into a wondrous tragic odyssey, here. Impressive write.
I like how the poem’s persona is frozen and marooned- not at sea but as in a seascape painting. It gave me the feeling of being frozen in a “precious mourning” where one cannot and more importantly does not want to escape their grief. Fantastic take on the prompt!