The Violinist

A depiction of emotional struggle using the image of a Violinist and her craft.

Standing upstage she plays all night

To an audience of herself.

Mirage of face in silence pale

Violin echoes the toll of bell.

 

Strings of veins and sharply cut bow

She took a bow and let it flow

Music displayed in crimson tears

Drying up after all these years.

 

The show is over, she leaves the stage

Exhaustion drives her to the Page

Quill in hand, she writes a prayer

Ending words let down with care.

Author's Note

The idea of this poem came to mind randomly; I don't remember what I was doing at the time either.

To break it down for you (Which I rarely do; it ruins the fun.):

First stanza:
Standing upstage she plays all night
To an audience of herself.

-This represents the struggle, loneliness, and loss of sleep some emotionally challenged people go through when they get to the point of cutting their selves (Plays all night)

Second stanza:
Mirage of face in silent pale
Violin echoes the toll of bell

-First line of this depicts the visage of what this person is seeing when she glances into the mirror at this time. The second is the violin (Represents the character cutting) playing a "Song" that brings death.

Third stanza:
Strings of veins and sharply cut bow
She took a bow and let it flow
Music displayed in crimson tears
Drying up after all these years.

-This wraps up the idea of the violin, explaining that it isn't what the audience first suspected. "She took a bow and let it flow" Means that as the blood is leaving her body, she begins to faint. The third line is another picture of the music (Blood) dripping in an emotional state, while the fourth line means her body is finally not able to keep up with the abuse over so many years (Of cutting).

Fourth stanza:
The show is over, she leaves the stage
Exhaustion drives her to the Page
Quill in hand, she writes a prayer
Ending words let down with care.

-The first line in this means she realizes she is coming to an end (Death), so she leaves to go and write what is basically a suicide note (In the last 3 lines).

There's my brief explanation. Hope you all have enjoyed. No, I am not emo, nor do I cut. Do I know people who have? Yes. I have friends who have and still do. This is my reflection on what I see behind the scenes.

Thank you for reading! -Bows-

Reviews

[LouisianaBird]

I do love how you explained your poem. You seem to be quite like me! I imagine my poems and to me the visual is so rich that I barely describe it in the poem. I loved the poem in itself, but your reason behind it is even more the beautiful.
Good write (:

[Michael Thrower]

I'm so glad you enjoyed! :D I'll check out your stuff now ;)

Thank you :)

[WingsToFly]

very nice. And thanks for adding the explanation.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

The wonderful thing about the use of metaphor is not needing to explain that it is metaphor. When Jesus told his apostles to "beware the leavening of the scribes and pharisees" for example, they knew from a previous comparison ("The kingdom of heaven is like a loaf of bread....only a little yeast is needed to leaven the entire loaf") That he was not saying the scribes and pharisees served poison bread...or was he? It depends on how far one wishes to carry the metaphor. But my point is if you set up your comparison first and then introduce your metaphor it will avoid confusion to your reader. As for content the piece is written fine although I've never undrstood why anyone would want to cut themselves other than for attention. It's easier to dye your hair pink or something.

[Michael Thrower]

Thank you for the well thought out review!

And I don't either. It seems like a need for attention to me as well. Yet, I do not know psychological problems form after a person starts cutting. It's never an urge to do it, people just start for attention and then get addicted. Like a lot of things. I've never done it, but I have known some people who have. It's really just a "Hey, look at me" call. Maybe they get addicted to the attention.

Thanks again for reading!

[CHRIS ANDES]

ah to my most favorite musical instrument
this is intensifying
=]

[Ana Soo]

I love the way you use the typical form of language. Its simplicity and loosely defined structure made it easy to follow.

Mirage of face in silence pale
Violin echoes the toll of bell.

These lines made me think of bloody red and black. It made me think of Amy Lee playing a violin, lol. weird i know..

[Michael Thrower]

Hahaha, hmmmm. That is a pretty cool idea ;D

Thank you for reading! :)

[Ana Soo]

As always, Michael:)

[Ice QueenJen]

Great job Michael on both the poem and the explanation. But some of it could be construed as a violinist struggles with learning to play, and wanting everything done to perfection. Thus driving the person into harming themselves, and ending their life because it could never be perfect.

[Michael Thrower]

I think THAT would be a little too extreme. But I CAN see the struggle, being a musician myself. Yet, not something to end a life over. Improve, yes.

Thank you for reading! :D

[Enid Blake]

Cool, I think the images worked pretty well :)

[KAOlmsted]

I'm glad you included the explanation because I really didn't get that at all from your words...I got the underlying sadness, despair, hopelessness of the violinist, but the cutting aspect alluded me. Now that I read it again, knowing what I know, it is a heartbreaking piece that (and you will pardon the extremely bad pun) cuts very deeply. Nice job, Michael.

-kimmer

[Michael Thrower]

Thank you so much Kimmer. And I was just contemplating taking the explanation down. I didn't want to make it a very long poem and go into too much detail. I didn't even plan to write the whole explanation, but I felt the need. I was hoping the "Strings of veins and sharply cut bow", meaning actual veins and a knife, would give it away. But hey, glad I left it there.

Thank you for reading ;)

[KAOlmsted]

My pleasure. Always.

[Jason]

Wow, this is amazing. I loved reading it. c:

[kublakhan27]

Phenomenal for a random piece...love it^^

[Phillitup]

I play violin.

[Michael Thrower]

That's awesome.