for T
If I could, I would make this
A measurable thing;
I would breathe into it
My spirit, animate this vessel
While it is unwedged potential
Balanced in my palms,
Before that slap and press
So similar to a baker
Kneading dough,
But it is not bread
I would make for you.
I know, thrown and centered
My substance would compose itself
In a directed dance; the way my flesh rises
Under the lathe of your hands
In waves crested to fantastic forms
By your fingers.
I would dry our blended tears
To a cobalt salt glaze,
Blue as the September sky we met under,
Darkened by tannins.
Clay breaks.
What it holds, I hold
And cannot be contained forever
In jars or hands,
Covered and unvoiced–
But try this vessel.
You will find a love, though
Cracked on the surface
From past firing,
Unbroken in it’s essence.
Strength is not always motion,
Though for you I would lift up worlds.
Sometimes it is shown
Only in holding together,
The way stones own it.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
This has to be one of my favourites of yours…so very tender, beautiful, lyrical and visual..superb!
Helen, thank you so very much.
I do agree:Clays will ultimately break whether as jars or just being held in our hands.It cannot contain itself forever and thus must spill love”covered and unvoiced”.Though the process of moulding clay requires heating(firing)which may make the vessel formed by the clay to crack on the surface but this crack remains on the surface not affecting the essence(love) of the vessel which essence(love) is still unbroken.Just my lousy interpretation of two stanza.Thank you for take2.But there has to be a take3 which is a combination of 1 and 2 for a smoother flow.Can you do that for me pleaseeeee?
Victor, thanks for the insight you have shared. And yes, I will blend/merge more today for a take 3 😉 Not ready to put this down yet.
Here you go.
https://susandanielspoetry.com/2013/02/22/clay-final/
Very pretty poem. k.
Thank you!
“Strength is not always motion,
Though for you I would lift up worlds.”
strong lines we have here.
Pia, thank you.
Lovely clay again.
Thanks, Alice. There is one more, final, revised version–thanks to KB and Victor coaxing it out of me.
It reminds me of Broken cisterns in Isaiah 21 [I believe ] and how he begs that we allow Him to heal us; thoroughly beautiful imagery with three dimensional emotions !
Deb, thank you so much for saying that!
Well done.
Thanks, Nelle.