Half Empty

[ellajam]

"For me, you've justified shattered, but not scattered."

Well, as I've said, I am not fond of either. Maybe I'll use "broken soul". "despair" is the stage in between longing and acceptance. If one longs for something, then on some level there is hope that longing will be fulfilled, when one realizes that there is no chance of that (when all hope is gone) one falls into despair. Of course as I've said one swings back and forth between these two states. It is a state of irresolution. I mean all of this within the confines of the grief process. Disbelief is also a part of longing. When people speak of "closure", as in the case of a loved one who is missing, but not prove dead, the person will continue in a state of longing because there is the possibility that the person is not dead, thus they are hopeful.
would you like it better if I wrote ..."between hope and despair"? But then again you don't like "crucified". However I don't see how that is less accurate than "torn".


Dale

Hey, Dale, I'm the one that had no problem with crucified, it was between that sounded off to me. No need to continue swapping definitions of longing, I understand your definition and it's your poem.

You described the distressed soul pretty well in your explanation, maybe you can bring something from there into your last line.