Nothing
remains, except
this quickened memory–
how brief and wondrous it was, that
first love
A cinquain for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, with the photo prompt above by Terri Webster Schrandt.
Frank @ Beach Walk Reflections posted this week about love. His meditations always make me think of music and I considered all the love songs I knew, and how difficult it was to capture the essence of love in words. This morning I put on Donovan’s Fairy Tale album and the first song, “Colours”, struck all the right chords, as it had when I first heard it 50 years ago, conjuring that time and space in my life when the complexities of the future did not yet exist. Ephemeral, but nonetheless still very real, even now, from this far away country where I presently reside.
K. 
Kerfe … thanks for linking my beach walk essay. I invite your readers to stop by. After all, I don’t bite. Your words are perfect for the first love. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Frank (and thanks for the inspiration)
LikeLike
This tanka ROCKS!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Ron.
LikeLike
You knocked this tanka out of the park. Lovely artwork to echo the memories of love in bloom those years ago, Kerfe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jade. From this distance, I can see how lucky I was to experience it, despite the fact that it didn’t last.
LikeLiked by 1 person
❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely, Kerfe. Those echoes are hard to forget.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Merril. They’ve returned with different insights these last few years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the artwork.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Claudia. I’m going through old art and ran across it in a bin. It fit the prompt well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kerfe, your art grabbed my attention!! I love the colors and the Donovan song takes me back… a stunning cinquain! 💝
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Colleen. And thanks for reminding me of the form.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, Kerfe. I like the cinquain too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
always brief and painful … love your artwork and Donovan says it well 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Kate. He always does.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! My older cousin introduced me to Donovan and I loved this song! I am captivated by the artwork and the poem – altogether it presents a beautiful synthesis!
LikeLike
Thanks Muri. Donovan still sounds as fresh as he did when I first heard him as a teenager.
LikeLike
That is incredibly beautiful, Kerfe ❤
~David
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks David.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like whenever you get near watercolors. (WIDI trb, so being briet)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Neil.
LikeLike
Meaning WIFI of course.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The internet is finicky.
LikeLike
You wrote a masterful cinquain there. Seamless.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jane. Much revised. The fewer words I use, the more I worry over them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think that’s inevitable. Or it ought to be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love this!
And I love Donovan–just put him in a micro story I’m working on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Luanne. He sounds as wonderful now as the first time I heard him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s wonderful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So often the way!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love it when you’re embroidering stuff!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Phil. Not enough time…
LikeLiked by 1 person
A beautiful tanka and the video is perfect too .💜🌹
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Willow.
LikeLike
Such a beautiful rose, Kerfe. So lovely. And elegant words and thoughts to match.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Aletha. Another one-off painting. Neil Reid recently remarked that I’m all over the place (I think he meant it as a complement), and it’s true.
LikeLike
A beautiful nostalgic poem, Kerfe. Wonderful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Diana. Sometimes we see things more clearly from a distance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was a sweet poem, Kerfe! 🙂
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Yvette.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lovely love poem, Kerfe. Terri’s picture was a perfect prompt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was. Very evocative. Thanks Robbie.
LikeLiked by 1 person