WATER NYMPH




My dear friend Elaine sent me this photograph to bring some nature into the hospital room. She is my mother's water nymph who lived in our garden since I was a child. After the house was sold Elaine took her in and she now sits on a beautiful Welsh hillside beside running water. 

The poem inspired by this story is written as a sonnet, not a form I usually use. I am doing an online poetry course with the inspirational and brilliant poet and tutor Wendy Pratt and this was one of the challenges. To read her poetry and thoughts I have added a link to her page and a new one set up by Jacqui Rowe who posts beautifully crafted and moving daily haiku.

https://wendyprattpoetry.wordpress.com/

https://17haiku.wordpress.com/




WATER NYMPH

It had to be done, the house had to sell,
emptying daily, lives bagged and removed,
little by little the house now a shell,
stripped of their presence, its heart removed,
saving the precious, my fragile soul bruised.

I walk in the garden, transformed to wild as 
aging curbed their entry and nature bloomed,
lean on the silver birch, its sway brings a smile,
alongside hops robin, in red waistcoat plume, 
I tinkle the wind chimes in a forlorn farewell.

 Her image captured and shared from distant Wales,
water nymph transplanted to mossy knell,
nestled in leaves, gazing over lush vales.
Essence of Garden, at peace, serene, sun blessed
by rippling brook, her heart rests in green. 


© 2018 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved. 


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