Battle by Iain MacLeod - WriteWords.org.uk

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Battle

by Iain MacLeod

Posted: 22 June 2006
Word Count: 95
Summary: I hope there's something there for you to like.
Related Works: Find Me • Highland • Lighthouse • No More Sad Refrains • Stillness Becomes Me •

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For L.

I fight.
I bite, I snarl, I scratch,
when I should give in.
How easy to yield,
spill my heart’s desire
in one gentle wave.

Yet I fight.
Pounding it down,
keeping it beneath.
It will best me
and as I embrace it,
I fear it.

So I fight.
I gather strength,
another wave, ever harder.
It clings and burns,
calls me to lay down,
not to let it pass.

I am weary.
A fiery ache
numbs me to my knees.
It gazes upon me,
wonders at my struggle
and completes my surrender.

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Comments by other Members

paul53 [for I am he] at 18:23 on 25 June 2006 Report this post

Allowing oneself to be vulnerable? Fighting the belief that we lose all we care about - so best to stay aloof? Not that it matters, for any poem that prompts questions from the reader is serving a purpose. There is much identification with the feelings here, much thought put ino the choice of expression.

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Iain MacLeod at 23:13 on 27 June 2006 Report this post

Hi Paul,

Thanks very much for your comments, and for taking the time to read. I suppose that the poem is more about constantly fighting against what you really want to say, battering down what is really in your heart and finding yourself more than a little distant.

But I'm glad that it can be interpreted in a few ways - it's always nice to be enigmatic.

all the best,

Iain

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o11ie at 20:59 on 01 August 2006 Report this post

Hi Ian

I was on that striaght away, and could identify with it. The peoms got a lovely rythm (did I spell that right?) to it. Full of feeling and desperation, I think there could be more to it?

Ollie

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Iain MacLeod at 19:38 on 02 August 2006 Report this post

Cheers Ollie, that means a lot, and thanks for having a look. I've been thinking about expanding it a wee bit, so I'll have to think a bit harder.

And yes, desperation and longing, you've hit it on the head.

all the best,

Iain

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