The shadow of laudanum
no longer stained her skin,
in life and death her beauty spilled
luminous, and green-blue eyes belied
disease that once coiled within.
Her glorious red hair had grown
beyond eternal sleep,
entangled in it, Rossetti’s book of poetry,
penetrated by a single worm
where damp and mould had seeped.
Seven long years her body lay
in the deep night of the grave,
asleep at first, perhaps,
or one of Highgate Cemetery’s undead;
exhumation revealed
that it had not decomposed,
or even the words of love
Rossetti laid beside her head,
and Lizzie’s dignity and sweetness
survived Ophelia’s curse
in paintings and poetry,
the eternal muse.
Kim M. Russell, 31st October 2019
My response to Poets United: Midweek Motif ~ A Million Years Howl When Voices Whisper Among the Trees
This midweek Sanaa’s motif has a Halloween hue. She refers to All Hallows Eve, a holiday celebrated in several countries on 31st October, and to The Day of the Dead, ‘Dias de los Muetros’, which is celebrated in central and southern Mexico on 1st November; both celebrate death and rebirth.
Sanaa has shared quotes from Hesse and Proust, as well as poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Vanessa Angelica Villarreal and Louise Glück. She invites us to choose one of two options to inspire us to write poetry. I’ve chosen to write a poem inspired by the exhumation of the artist, poet and model Elizabeth Siddal, who died at the age of thirty-two, only two years after her marriage to the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She is best known as Millais’ Ophelia.
Especially entertaining, and informative. Enjoyed it very much.
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Thank you.
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Have you read Kate Forsyth’s Beauty in Thorns?
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I think you’d like Forsyth’s novel 🙂 thanks for a lovely poem.
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Thank you for reading and commenting. I’ve looked on Amazon and they only have the audio book, so I’m going to check it out at the library. Thanks for pointing me in its direction.
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I’ll be after the audiobook myself. 🙂
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They didn’t have a copy of the physical book at the library, but I have downloaded the audio book. I’m hooked!
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Great, I thought you’d enjoy it 🙂
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😊
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Beautiful poem. Ophelia has always had a special place in my heart.
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Thank you. I’m fascinated by Lizzie Siddal.
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I love how you take us into the painting – it works wonderfully
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Thanks Jae!
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Kim,
I loved your aspect taken with the prompt.
You have presented a most interesting poem, filled with emotion. Its impact remains long after reading..
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Thank you so much, Eileen.
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Just the right tone for today. I love that painting and you’ve brought it to life. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe.
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Very fitting. Love your subject, and treatment of it.
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Thank you, Mary!
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wow- you’ve brought this to life!
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Thank you kindly!
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You have made the explainable (saintly?) even more mythic. I feel the eerie music rising.
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Thanks Susan!
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Amazing that she had not decomposed…..and so sad she died so young. Very interesting poem.
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Thank you, Sherry!
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This is beautifully haunting, Kim! ❤️ I especially like; “Her glorious red hair had grown beyond eternal sleep, entangled in it, Rossetti’s book of poetry, penetrated by a single worm where damp and mould had seeped.” Thank you so much for writing to the prompt 🙂
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Thank you for your appreciation and for the prompt, Sanaa! 🙂
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What a beautiful poem you have given us Kim. Ophelia should have checked what other eligible bachelors were around rather that rely on crazy Hamlet.
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Well, she wasn’t allowed out much…
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I don’t think she had much choice, Robin. As Rosemary said, she didn’t get out much!
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Fascinating! I hadn’t known the story about her exhumation.
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It’s quite well-known over here, one of the stories they like to tell when you visit Highgate Cemetery in London.
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Thoroughly enjoyed the poem and backstory. Nicely juxtaposed.
Thanks for dropping by to read mine
Much💞love
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Thanks and much love to you, Gillena!
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You had me from the first line. The beauty in death isn’t often addressed. This is such a creative look into the grave.
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Thank you, Susie.
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Beautifully macabre. I love the unhurried pace of this even as you describe an unsettling event like exhuming a grave. Ideal for this time of year.
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Thank you, Barry.
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Oh Kim, your poem is “Beauty Beyond the Grave” in itself. I wish we had visited Highgate Cemetery, of all the times we spent/lived in London the only cemetery we would visit was St. John’s Church Cemetery. And that was because there was a nice children’s park nearby to take our granddaughter. If we go back we will see it and some of the other of the ‘Seven London City Cemeteries’. We’ve literally been to all parts of the city, Camden probably the most.
Also I learned a new word, “laudanum”. That was probably the form that Charles Dickens used for his Opium intake.
..
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Thanks Jim!
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Thank you so much for linking this gem of a poem once again, Kim 🥰 🥰
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🙂
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Wonderful poem, and tribute to poor Lizzie.
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Thank you, Rosemary.
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I could say “ditto” to my earlier comment on your first entry, as revealing your insight solo skillfully.. But I did not see her in the grave, rather I found her laying in the grass, possibly just waking up from a little nap, her hand raised checking to see if it actually was a sprinkle she had felt. 🙂
..
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A thing of beauty, Kim.
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Thank you, Helen!
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A stunning poem, Kim. Piqued my interest in Lizzie’s story.
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Thank you, Bev!
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WOW there is so much info in your poem and the supporting notes. This is just brilliant .
Happy Wednesday
much💝love
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Thank you so much, Gillena! Much love to you this Wednesday!❤
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Beautiful… I so love Ophelia
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Thank you, Susie. Me too.
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oh wow houw beautiful! i enjoyed this very much and honestly i was enchanted by the poem itself and the artwork used. great stuff!
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
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