White curtains flutter.
Breeze billows through fabric,
createing long cloth ripples
filled and unfilled by unseen wind.
Door left ajar.
The void space within its frame,
a vacancy that waits
filled with hope.
The null set.
Emptiness that knows,
change by one
changes everything.
Written for dVerse, a virtual poets’ pub, where Bjorn is tending bar today and asks us to write a quadrille (44 words, not including title) that makes use of the word jar. A bit of poetic license: did include a jar (ajar).
lillian the home poet 
I hope there can always be a door ajar… there are days when not a single breeze is felt… there are days when doors are closed…. love the hope of this.
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Thank you, Bjorn. Doors ajar always leave room for hope! 🙂 Happy Monday to you!
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Oh yes! Wise words.
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Kind of like the glass being half-full or half-empty, right? So even when it’s empty, it’s waiting for that pitcher to come it’s way….that’s hope!
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And I am eternally hopeful by nature. 😉
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That door ajar – always giving hope unlike the door that is closed….and locked. I love the hope in this and the possibilities.
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Glad you enjoyed! 🙂 Smiling I am with my second cup. About to get to my reading….
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Oh, Lill.
THIS:
“a vacancy that waits
filled with hope.”
We all have this. So lovely.
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Yes 🙂 Even the half-empty glass has hope and simply is awaiting the pitcher!
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The imagery in that first stanza is beautiful, I could imagine just sitting next to that window watching the curtains move.
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I do love breezy days and fluttering curtains! 🙂
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A possibility that the wind can come in to a room and leave its imprints. 🙂 I love that hope. Beautiful.
Agree with Carol too. I am sitting near an open window, so I could imagine the breeze through the curtains as well.
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So very glad you enjoyed! Have a breezy day 🙂
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Leaving that door ajar leaves us open to many possibilities, be the good or bad. We have our window open in this warm summer evening and I can hear birds (seagulls) fighting with distant traffic and the breeze. Letting the outside in.
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Yes indeed. A door open to me, is the sign of hope and bravery — expect the best! 🙂
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I really like the way you keep the theme of openness running through the poem. It feels full of possibilities. The first stanza is so beautifully visualised, and then you move from that to something more abstract, but very gently. Lovely.
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Thank you Sarah for you very kind words here. Will be getting to my reading this morning…always enjoy the words of others over my morning coffee! 🙂
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I love how this poem evokes optimism and hope ❤
Beautifully penned.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
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And I love to see your hearts in the morning, Sanaa. Happy Tuesday! 🙂
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I love the beauty of the wind gently blowing a lightweight curtain and in that alone I feel hope. Lovely, Lillian.
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The breeze of possibilities! 🙂
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I can visualize and all. but feel the breeze of the first stanza. The second stanza make my heart zing with – well, hope. The third stanza tempers that hope. Not to give up but to be prapared for not all changes are for the better.
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I think for those who feel desolate, perhaps they feel stymied and stuck, empty. The null set simply stands awaiting to be filled – it too recognizes that change is imminent. For me….that is hope — movement in all manner — and as someone once said to me, “Expect the best!”
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There is hope in this poem. But the hope is not overwhelming/unrealistic, it is balanced.
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Yes — now that would be something to write about — the variants of hope. Interesting….
Thanks for your thoughtful read this morning.
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A lot of possibilities with the door left ajar Lillian. But I am always hopeful for anything that comes in. Good one!
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Yep — the half-full glass is simply waiting for the pitcher and in that, there is hope! 🙂
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Lillian this is so insightful and wonderful. I don’t know what prompted it for you, but for me reading it, it came on the heels of a sad poem that I wrote about a door ajar. Touched me deeply, thank you
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So very glad you connected with this one. I tend to be a very positive person — my daughter accuses me of being a Pollyanna — which I actually take as a compliment. I like to be believe the half-full glass is simply waiting for the pitcher! 🙂
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What a wondrfulvway to usher in hope, by a door ajar. Great imagery, got to open a door to let in the light
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The open door — let in the breeze, life, hope! Glad you enjoyed!
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that ending took my breath away……
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So glad you enjoyed, Candy! Thanks for the read 🙂
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I was carried off by the breeze in the first stanza…could totally visualize the ripples. From there, you captivated me with a lovely analogy of hope…a door even slightly ajar gives way to the light.
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Thanks, Mish. Having just been in the Adirondaks with country curtains on windows and knotty pine walls, I kept thinking about those cool breezes and the curtains fluttering. Here in Boston, windows are closed and airconditioning is humming. Looking forward to a break in the humidity! 🙂 But yes…..a door ajar, a window open, a glass half-empty awaiting the pitcher of cool water. Expect the best 🙂
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I really like this, the title, curtains, and last lines especially. Beautifully written!
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Interesting — have not gotten very many comments about the last lines. For me, they made the sense of the poem — even the emptiness, the void, is simply waiting for an addition — a change. As I’ve said to others, the half-empty glass is simply awaiting the pitcher — that’s hope and turns that old phrase of How do you see the glass – half-full or half-empty? on its head! 🙂
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Snap! I started with a door left ajar too! I love those lines:
‘The void space within its frame,
a vacancy that waits
filled with hope.’
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So glad you enjoyed, Kim! WIll be off to my morning reading in just a few moments. Need to get my second cup! 🙂
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the last verse has so much impact and quite a contrast with the soft blowing curtain
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Oh — so glad you commented on the last verse. Most folks did not.
For me, it is the reality of mathematical theory — the null set. And to think about it as something simply awaiting an addition — a change — rather than a permanent emptiness — that is the key to hope.
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wonderful view of the {null set} – its what drew me most to your poem – we confuse void with emptiness rather than readiness 😉
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“a vacancy that waits…” I love the tinge of hope in this piece. 🙂
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Thank you, Maria. Yes — I think about the half-empty glass as simply awaiting the pitcher! That is hope 🙂 As someone once said to me, Expect the Best!
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Great metaphor here. So often we come upon “doors” that are ajar, and we are given the choice to open, close, or leave alone.
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Yes indeed. A door left ajar is open for possibilities! 🙂
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Here’s to doors left ajar and maybe a mason jar full of pennies, keeping it ajar. 🙂 Love this quadrille full of hope and beauty!
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Oh yes — a wonderful door stop (or should I say door go?) for this door that is full of possibilities! Glad you enjoyed.
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leave the door ajar so light might filter in and bring a breeze of joy…
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Exactly! Smiling I am.
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Intriguing!
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aha! Got you thinking???? 🙂
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Very symbolic. Nice.
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Glad you enjoyed. Nice to meet you, Anita! 😊
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I did. You too.
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Hope is a theme for me lately. I liked your take on it.
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Thank you, Sue. Truly appreciate your reply!
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“A vacancy that waits filled with hope” – I enjoyed thinking about this. Often we think of a vacancy as being nothingness, but as I read your poem I realize there has to be ‘nothingness’ before something can fill it. Thus, a hopeful thought here.
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Exactly! I’d always heard the question, “How to you view life? As a glass half-full or a glass half-empty?” with the assumption that the one who sees it half-empty is a pessimist. In reality, when you think about it, both are positive! As in, the one who sees it half-empty is swiply aware that hope is around the corner and is contemplating what to put into the glass. Hope can be present if we choose to see it that way! 🙂
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