I don’t know about you, but I have a love/hate relationship with poetry.  I hated it when I was at school, dabbled a bit in writing angst written lines when I was a teenager, then once I got married and ‘real life’ took over, it fell off my radar for years.

Decades.

Until a few weeks ago when a writer friend of mine suggested we each write a poem.  I had no idea where to start, so she suggested we take a line from one of her favourites – Love After Love by Derek Walcott – and make that our beginning.

If we wanted, we could even rewrite the poem in our own words.  It was just an exercise.  An attempt to put our feelings into words.  No judgement.  No comparing skills.

I decided to give it a go, used the line The Stranger who was yourself as my opening line and went for it. The emotions the final piece aroused in me surprised me. It is nowhere near as eloquent as Walcott’s, but it is heartfelt and made me look into – and at – myself.

Why don’t you give it a go? You might surprise yourself.

Love After Love –   by Vhairi

The Stranger who was your self
Is there.
Has always been there.
That girl with bright brown eyes
Filled with love and curiosity.
And Courage.

You thought she’d gone
But she was always there.
Hidden
Quiet
Until those moments when you needed her.
Then her eyes would flash,
Her curiosity and courage knowing no bounds
For others.

For others.

Aye, there’s the rub.
For others.
Not self.
And now, she is alone
Those eyes slightly faded
The curiosity dulled from years of ‘behaving’.
The courage dimmed.

Yet not.

To live alone.
To live again.
The Stranger is back.
You can feel her presence.
A Stranger no longer.

Welcome home.