like tears gathered in veiled mist.
No loud incendiary words
nor rattling of chains.
Whisper soft,
they cling to mountains
obscure city views,
tall buildings topless
windows moist with deeds past.
They await a new awakening
renewed warmth of will,
a dawn of hope.
Quadrille (44 words) written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. Today’s word is “whisper.” Photos: left, taken on our trip to Alaska; right by Jesse Miksic.
May the spirit and hope of Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Barrack Obama, and John Lewis infuse our land.
lillian the home poet 
So hauntingly beautiful. 🌹🌹🌹
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The topless buildings .. first I read tall building topples (interesting what spelling can do) Love the conceit where you have to see those low clouds
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Sometimes the eye sees what is not there 🙂
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YES. May those powerful whispers be what we listen to. LOVE this, Lill.
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Thanks — LOVE this prompt! 🙂
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The reason why the whisper works better than the loud is because the whisper is respectfully waiting for you when your ready and it’s willing to get into the trenches with you.
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Yep. I like those still, small voices best.
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me too. those are the best catalysts.
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Interesting insight! 🙂
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A wonderful write Lillian, I love your ‘windows moist with deeds past’ awaiting ‘a new awakening’
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Glad you enjoyed. 🙂
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The still small voice, the whisper…love the tall buildings awaiting a new awakening. Great Write Lillian!
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Misty fog in country side and cities too — whispers of hope — hoping all will do the right thing. Glad you enjoyed.
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I love those words, gentle as mist, yet so powerful.
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Yes — hope is indeed a powerful phenomenon!
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When I worked in a certain nursing environment, sometimes there would be altercations and yelling among the patients. The only way to get them to stop was to whisper so they would have to cease and desist to listen. I believe that was a key to Gandhi’s success with non-violent protest. Just my opinion.
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Oh Victoria — I so agree. I always used the phrase, “Use your words,” when my children at very young ages would scream those high-pitched screams. And then later, as they grew older, we had many a talk about how people listen when one talks more quietly rather than yelling — which can make people turn a “deaf” ear. 🙂
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This whispers to my sense of belonging and reminds me of this lovely song.
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Oh my…..thank you so very much for posting this song…love the music and love the words. Had never heard it. Thank you thank you!!!
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Such a calm feel to this, and yet we all know the havoc behind those misty windows.
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Exactly…..those moist misty windows….waiting for some ray of sun (hope) to change their views…
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I often hear spirits whispering – my grandmother especially and hopefully my mum. I could have sworn she opened the glove compartment in my car on the way home from choir. And yes, there is no chain rattling. I love the images in the lines:
‘Whisper soft,
they cling to mountains
obscure city views,
tall buildings topless
windows moist with deeds past.’
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So glad this spoke to you…whispered to you. I do think the spirits speak to us…come and sit with us at times. Sometimes it’s music that makes me feel my brother with me…at Christmas time when I spread a special table cloth on the table, I finger the cross-stitching on it and I can see and hear our dear Aunt Flo who made this. She was a Commander in the Navy and worked with Admiral Nimitz…she was a tough one and just as soft and wonderful and special too.
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A beautiful capture of the essential heart of this prompt .. love the thought of obscured city views where you’re left listening to whispers!
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I sometimes think there are whispers all around us if we’d but tile our heads a listen a bit more carefully 🙂
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A dawn of hope….I look forward to that ~
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Me too! 🙂
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The best spirits don’t rattle chains. All of a sudden one hears them and understands.
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Yes — and there are those that have cast off the shackles given to them in life and they whisper of new hope to us…of calm and peace and understanding born from their paving the way.
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A most heart stirring write, Lillian ❤️ especially love “They await a new awakening renewed warmth of will, a dawn of hope.” I believe!❤️
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Smiling I am! 🙂
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love the nature in the metro of life… great use of the fog
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Fog and rain and thunder and snow — nature’s appearances in the midst of the concrete.
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windows moist with deeds past… fantastic line.
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The tears of what has past…waiting for the sun, a ray of hope to clear the way.
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Complete perfection. I love the first couple of lines … and the idea that a building might be topless (shirtless). For some reason, that just makes me giggle. 🙂 On a more serious note, the idea of one’s will having a temperature is lovely. I very much like thinking that yours is warm.
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Would that I could spread the rays of sun to everyone — not that is a wish! 🙂
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heartfelt. hopeful.
“tall buildings topless”.. wow.
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So glad you enjoyed. I truly believe, even in the face of adversity, one must march forward with home. We cannot go backwards.
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amen! 🙂
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a dawn of hope, lovely Lilian 🙂
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Each dawn presents that possibility — would that it be so.
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A beautiful tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream…hope it becomes reality.
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His words still stir so many. I think of the title of Barrack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope.
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I love how this begins a bit eerily, but takes the reader on a journey to hope. Lovely imagery, Lillian. 💜
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I believe we must always move toward hope — even in the face of adversity.
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I agree!
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whisper soft, clinging to mountains of strength…
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A beautiful comment — thank you, Truedessa.
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Hear, hear!! ❤
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As that famous line goes, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
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And to that, I agree. 🙂
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Timely tribute and we are overdue for the dawn of hope, I’d say 🙂
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We cannot let it die………we shall march forward on Saturday January 21st, because we cannot go backwards. And I say this in reference to much more than simply women’s rights.
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It felt very hopeful. XX
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I am always happy to hand out sun rays of hope! 🙂
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“whisper” does lend itself nicely to fog! Lovely poem and photos!
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Thank you, Bryan. Was it Carl Sandburg who wrote of fog creeping in like a cat?
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Wow! renewed warmth of will,
a dawn of hope. I love everything in this poem
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So glad you enjoyed. We must all have hope — every day there is a new dawn if we will just embrace it. 🙂
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Beautiful verse, and a lovely sentiment. I hope our land can be infused with the spirit of those good men too. I don’t think we’ve ever needed it more.
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I so agree. I shall march in Boston on Saturday, January 21st. I just finally made my sign to carry, after much much deliberation. “We march forward because we will not go backwards.”
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Excellent! I’ll be marching in Madison.
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I love the topless buildings. It reminds me of our trip to California two weeks ago. We stayed in San Diego, on the 17th floor overlooking the harbor (which we could barely see when we arrived at night.) The next morning when the fog and clouds had cleared we were surprised that to the left of our hotel was another tall building being built but we could not see much but the very bottom the night before.
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Your story here reminds me of a foggy night in Provincetown…we woke up to fog also. Then when we went to our deck windows after the sun broke, were shocked to see a big cruise ship parked in the ocean! Like it had dropped from the skies! 🙂
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i must say.. a non-verbal God is
what i see most in A FoRest
aWay from
sky-scrapers
that take away
the sun of liGht
as liVing liGht
iN roots
that
live
up.. far away
from all these
words.. i whisper
a dance oF liFe
that
never
ends
aLiVe.. noW as
SonG oF FeAT..Now..:)
WiNks that’s
52 words..
a Full
Deck..
Happy
now to you.. FriEnd Lillian..:)
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The gentleness of this piece exemplifies the message.
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So very glad you enjoyed, Rosemary.
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