Nicky Burrows

Glass Eyes

by Nicky Burrows

Thursday 20th August 2009 12:57 pm

Glass Eyes

He keeps me safe, the one that sleeps

on my bed.

Every day. Every night.

His big glass eyes stare through me,

At times, I think he smiles.

I wonder why.

He lies near me every night.

I touch his nose, I think it's wet

but it's not, it's dry.

He keeps his vigil over me,

I know, he can see into me

with those glass eyes.

When I move, they move,

sometimes it'e eerie.

It makes me wonder what he see's

with those glass eyes that stare at me.

He see's me, I know he does,

sometimes I wonder.

Those amber eyes.

That piercing glaze.

I end up searching through a maze

of what can only be,

musings, grounded in philosophy.

Or faith that's lost it's way.

I'll never find the answers,

but I know I'll always try,

and always ask the reason why

he watches me.

Every day and every night

with those amber eyes that see.

Lilley ►

Comments

Nichola Burrows

Tue 25th Aug 2009 10:23

Does it matter if I'm male or female? haha, many female writers have wrote under male pseudonyms throughout the years. Interesting one - and I wasn't offended by the way. Just makes me wonder if what I write is A-sexual at the moment, or whether it's the fact that my mother called me Nichola because she thought that the female version of Nicola was Nicholas without the S. Then again I was going to be called joanne so I'd have been called Jo anyway. Think she may have wanted a boy!

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Mon 24th Aug 2009 19:14

Because I very carelessly read "Nick" which could still have been female. I'm thinking about this.

Nichola Burrows

Mon 24th Aug 2009 18:41

or if you did explain them, it may be an anticlimax. Thousand plus years of poetry and writing that we all put our own interpretations on, would be gone. I suppose you could say that we all see things in different ways, and if we didn't? Don't you think that the world would be a boring place and, more to the point, sterile?

I think that the reader is actually at an advantage when reading a poem - not disagreeing with you because it's all down to how they read it, and they may read a poem at different points in their life and it's holds different meaning for them.

I think too much in my time out! lol - ha can use it now I know what it actually means!x

Isobel

Mon 24th Aug 2009 17:08

The reader is always at a disadvantage when interpreting a poem - just how do you find yourself round someone else's thought processes without the background history. I think I'm starting to understand Nicky and I guess there are some poems that you just don't want to fully explain. Isobel x

Nichola Burrows

Mon 24th Aug 2009 13:21

by purity in the last comment, I mean innocence, untainted.

Nichola Burrows

Mon 24th Aug 2009 13:19

Think I've always been possessed by something Isobel! Just haven't figured out what yet! haha!

The supernatural fascinates me, because it can never truly be explained. I struggle with the opposition of science and nature against faith and supernatural elements and always try to find balance.

There is a stuffed toy in this poem, but not a cuddly stuffed toy, it's a huge tiger. It is also linked ( for me ) to children. - in particularly one child. As Cynthia stated, children have an affinity with stuffed toys and this particular child although he wasn't long on this earth had an affinity with big cats, which are linked with the supernatural and animals also with the native american Indian spirit world.

The melancholy terror, is a mixture of loss and the unknown, of what really happens to one after their life expires. We either lose faith or question endlessly, or believe that they are still here.

It does sneak up on you janet, but I believe that it is not mean't to be 'sneakily', or scary. The simplicity that you described is a purity.

Love all your comments. Cynthia, why did you assume I was male?

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Sun 23rd Aug 2009 19:32

I don't find any terror here, in spite of Nick's personal statement. Children can have an intimacy with stuffed animals that is intense and very real - totally unconditional. If this 'friend' was personified by 'its amber eyes' to encourage adult thoughts, why is that a scary concept? I don't think the 'writer' loses the fact of 'the toy'.
And all this after Nick has made his own comments! The last stanza is very good, a great encapsulation.

Isobel

Sat 22nd Aug 2009 21:06

That is a big theme Nicky and one that never fails to capture my imagination - that will be the first and last time I ever mention something as insignificant as an apostrophe - I do 'love lost' a lot less subtly.

Nichola Burrows

Sat 22nd Aug 2009 20:56

janet, thank you. It is a simple poem, grounded in the idea of unconditional love, and how the loss of that is dealt with.

Isobel

Sat 22nd Aug 2009 20:48

LOL means 'laugh out loud' - I got it off others - lightens things up a bit cos I like to laugh a lot. I make lots of mistakes, usually with spellings - usually ignore others unless I think they are strong enough to take it and they are minor. So you are possessed by something or someone - let's hope it is a benevolent force.

Nichola Burrows

Sat 22nd Aug 2009 20:21

The bane of my life, 'the apostrophe! ' I teach it, yet I always get it wrong when I am writing. ( if my teaching tutor had read it, I would be the one being shot - she said that my composition and ideas were excellent, which boosted my ego a little! haha, but the 'English stuff' needed a little work, which deflated it again within seconds ) If the apostrophe only hit me once in that poem, I'm ok. I can deal with that. - may sound stupid but what does 'lol' really mean ?

Possession, an interesting one. ( especially where the apostrophe is concerned). Seriously, I like that, and it does fit in Isobel, metaphysically.

As Marianne said, there is also a melancholic terror underlying, of the unknown. but I'm not going to explain it. If i did it would take away the subjectivity of the poem.

Isobel

Sat 22nd Aug 2009 08:01

I take it this isn't a teddy bear we're talking about. An interesting one. 'Faith that's lost its way' does lead to sleepless nights. (no apostrophe on the its cos it's possession - though I'll probably get shot for pointing that out LOL)

<Deleted User> (5646)

Fri 21st Aug 2009 10:09

Hi Nicky, you found the blogs then. :-)

I've read this poem several times over and it's so simply written i'm not sure if i'm looking for something which isn't there.
Does that explain the poem?

I like it because of the simplicity, and if it had tried to be anything other than simple it would have had a sinister underlying theme which would be quite scary. ooooh.

Janet.x

Marianne Louise Daniels

Fri 21st Aug 2009 01:14

wow! love the melancholic terror - a tremble that clings sneakily, this poem is beautiful in tone. well done.

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