Beggar

[Aleksandra]

Don't make me beg --

take my hand and warm it.

Don't ask the winter

to make me cold.

I am a beggar

for all sides of your world.

 

Don't tell me that you go in the bank

or that you eat

everything warm and sweet.

You make me hungry,

as I stare at my empty plate

and pretend that I eat

from your full, set table.

 

I am a beggar

who begs for your warm blouse,

for your hot milk.

With broken pride, I am a beggar

who begs for your warmth --

I tremble from the cold.

 

Don't make me more of a beggar --

just take me, and don't delay.

Give me a piece of your bread

and your whole heart.

[tonyv]

How can I explain the way this poem makes me feel more vividly than the poem itself already does? I cannot. It speaks for itself. The poem starts out with a request --

Don't make me beg --

take my hand and warm it ...

-- but someone has asked the winter to make the narrator cold, to turn her into a beggar. It quickly becomes evident that the narrator is in no position to give commands; she is a beggar, and beggars can't be choosy, as the saying goes. The poem is especially painful here:

You make me hungry,

as I stare at my empty plate

and pretend that I eat

from your full, set table.

Not only does the narrator stare at her empty plate and wish she had food, she pretends that she has food, and this reminds me of your poem Tale - Cinderella and Odysseus . There, she states that she is living "a Cinderella half-story."

 

The poem also exhibits a touch of the erotic:

I am a beggar

who begs for your warm blouse,

for your hot milk.

With broken pride, I am a beggar

who begs for your warmth --

I tremble from the cold,

and at the end it becomes clear that it is not only material which the narrator craves, what she longs for. She begs for her emotional needs to be met:

Don't make me more of a beggar --

just take me, and don't delay.

I want to take her hand and warm it. When I read this, I want someone to take my hand and warm it! Thank you for this lovely example of what constitutes good poetry -- it is a perfect poem.

 

Tony

[Bloodyday]

i think the bar reaches it's acme!

 

 

Sometimes a disturbed mind is always deceived without any reason and it becomes rational for its own legality. we are abide by many reasons, morals, religions, idealism, but neither could define the love the way the true lovers do!

 

i am not sage or couldn't be a true lover, but i must say something in the world might purifies all the things and i think our lovely alek has found this thing!

 

 

 

 

RoNy

[JoelJosol]

This is poignant. The persona is torn between to beg and not to beg. My favorite part

 

 

With broken pride, I am a beggar

who begs for your warmth --

I tremble from the cold.

[Lake]

aleksandra,

 

I'm deeply touched by the emotion and/or passion conveyed in this poem. Some lines are very powerful, such as this

 

Don't make me more of a beggar

 

Cheers,

 

Lake

[Larsen M. Callirhoe]

aleks this poem is great. it shows how you think. i learned a lot about your way of thinking in this poem. i absolutely love it. excellent poem my friend. so diversified and unique dear.

 

victor

Edited May 18, 2009 by Larsen M. Callirhoe

[Aleksandra]

How can I explain the way this poem makes me feel more vividly than the poem itself already does? I cannot. It speaks for itself. The poem starts out with a request --

Don't make me beg --

take my hand and warm it ...

-- but someone has asked the winter to make the narrator cold, to turn her into a beggar. It quickly becomes evident that the narrator is in no position to give commands; she is a beggar, and beggars can't be choosy, as the saying goes. The poem is especially painful here:

You make me hungry,

as I stare at my empty plate

and pretend that I eat

from your full, set table.

Not only does the narrator stare at her empty plate and wish she had food, she pretends that she has food, and this reminds me of your poem Tale - Cinderella and Odysseus . There, she states that she is living "a Cinderella half-story."

 

The poem also exhibits a touch of the erotic:

I am a beggar

who begs for your warm blouse,

for your hot milk.

With broken pride, I am a beggar

who begs for your warmth --

I tremble from the cold,

and at the end it becomes clear that it is not only material which the narrator craves, what she longs for. She begs for her emotional needs to be met:

Don't make me more of a beggar --

just take me, and don't delay.

I want to take her hand and warm it. When I read this, I want someone to take my hand and warm it! Thank you for this lovely example of what constitutes good poetry -- it is a perfect poem.

 

Tony

 

Tony how wonderful comment. Everyone would love to have comment like this one.

Thank you so much for your words, and I am pleased to read all what you wrote here. It is interesting how you made a connection between two of my poems, maybe there is something what really exists, and you are making wonderful connection, which I even didn't notice that I expressed something similar and close in those two poems.

 

Everybody needs warmed hand, so I am not surprised that you want too.

Interesting that you found that erotic touch in here. Really I love the way how this poem worked on you.

 

Tony dear, thank you so much. Much enjoyed reading your words, which for always I'm looking forward.

 

Aleksandra

[Aleksandra]

i think the bar reaches it's acme!

 

 

Sometimes a disturbed mind is always deceived without any reason and it becomes rational for its own legality. we are abide by many reasons, morals, religions, idealism, but neither could define the love the way the true lovers do!

 

i am not sage or couldn't be a true lover, but i must say something in the world might purifies all the things and i think our lovely alek has found this thing!

 

 

 

 

RoNy

 

Rony - thanks. You shout wonderful things in this comment.

Thank you for reading and for your nice words.

 

Aleksandra

[Aleksandra]

This is poignant. The persona is torn between to beg and not to beg. My favorite part

 

 

With broken pride, I am a beggar

who begs for your warmth --

I tremble from the cold.

 

Joel, my friend. Thank you for showing some of the main points from the poem.

 

Aleksandra

[Aleksandra]

aleksandra,

 

I'm deeply touched by the emotion and/or passion conveyed in this poem. Some lines are very powerful, such as this

 

Don't make me more of a beggar

 

Cheers,

 

Lake

 

Lake thank you so much. I am glad that you are touched by the emotions in this poem.

 

Aleksandra

[Aleksandra]

aleks this poem is great. it shows how you think. i learned a lot about your way of thinking in this poem. i absolutely love it. excellent poem my friend. so diversified and unique dear.

 

victor

 

Ah Victor my friend. I am glad to hear this I am happy that you love this poem, and that can be seen my inner side from the heart of the poem

 

Thank you my friend.

 

Aleksandra

[goldenlangur]

Hi aleksandra,

 

I read this as a plea from someone who is emotionally and also physically dependent on the person addressed in the poem. Perhaps I'm wrong but these lines here seem to suggest an intimacy and dependence which evoke maternal nurturing:

 

"I am a beggar

who begs for your warm blouse,

for your hot milk."

 

There's a rhetorical element in that without the mother's love and nurturing, the child is doomed, so why would the child need to beg for this most basic of protection and love? Is it because despite the popular beliefs about 'mother earth' ideals of motherhood, mothering does not always come 'naturally' to every woman - the demand - physical, emotional, psychological on her person - is phenomenal and taxing. So I imagine this poem to be about the vulnerability of a child - perhaps there's an allusion to the recent natural disasters around the world in which children have been orphaned and left without such basic protection - Congo civil war, the recent earthquakes in Baluchistan province of Pakistan?:

 

"Don't make me beg --

take my hand and warm it.

Don't ask the winter

to make me cold.

I am a beggar

for all sides of your world."

 

 

 

Emotive and powerful.

 

goldenlangur

[Aleksandra]

GL what a wonderful reading by you. I never thought that this poem can be read in so many ways. I am surprised how you read this poem. It doesn't matter if you guessed the real meaning of the poem, but I loved how the poem provoked that sense in you.

 

Begging can be connected with everything, even with love. And with your comment you gave me more inspiration to write about begging

So I like that this poem worked that way for you.

 

Thank you so much for reading and commenting my friend.

 

Aleksandra

[Larsen M. Callirhoe]

i fixed my typos aleks. sorry bout that. i have an eye allergy and this morning is the first morning it has started to clear up. im taking a medication called "singular" and it has stopped the itchiness and irritation, thank god. glad you could understand my memo to you despite the typos.

 

vic

[Aleksandra]

i fixed my typos aleks. sorry bout that. i have an eye allergy and this morning is the first morning it has started to clear up. im taking a medication called "singular" and it has stopped the itchiness and irritation, thank god. glad you could understand my memo to you despite the typos.

 

vic

 

Vic dear, do not worry about anything, hope your eyes are better. And you know I can understand all kinds of English I am not using proper English so I am used on bad spelling, even with clear eyes I am making very often mistakes.

 

Take care my friend

 

Aleksandra