Absence

My new photography class presents numerous challenges. First is to find fifteen minutes a day to meditate, or think about nothing. I admitted to the instructor that I don't have a quiet mind, and to date, I've failed that assignment outright. Another is to create a journal of sorts; not one that records the minutia of my days, but records those fleeting moments of interest or inspiration. Again, failed.

My first photography assignment includes (but is not limited to) the challenge of responding to a Pablo Neruda poem, Absence. I happen to be quite fond of Neruda's poetry, particularly his Ode to Common Things, not just because of the poems themselves, but also because of the exquisite drawings that accompany each poem. But I wasn't sure how to approach Absence.

Absence

I have scarcely left you
When you go in me, crystalline,
Or trembling,
Or uneasy, wounded by me
Or overwhelmed with love, as
when your eyes
Close upon the gift of life
That without cease I give you.

My love,
We have found each other
Thirsty and we have
Drunk up all the water and the
Blood,
We found each other
Hungry
And we bit each other
As fire bites,
Leaving wounds in us.

But wait for me,
Keep for me your sweetness.
I will give you too
A rose.