–
All The Old Men Are Gone
All the old men with beautiful manners are gone.
They with courtly manners
who brush their lips over your hand
who look up the white pillar of arm
meet eyes with sweet kindness or desire-
Are gone.
The Hungarians, Italians and Russians
who murmur into faces
and translate with twinkling spheres,
a desire found ‘deep in their hearts’
or perhaps like a well-oiled
Casanova, who glides across
the room and anchors your vanity to his side.
They are all gone, dissolved in the waters of time.
You were glad for the flirtation,
it made the stomach flip,
it brightened everything-
Life -Suddenly- Worth- Living!
If even for the evening
or a few hours until dawn
you were young and desirable once more.
With these now-ghosts,
the light came forth from dull shadows
like diamonds thrown onto mirrors
the room was a crystal ball spinning
with a magnum of champagne watering the darkness,
a dizzying waltz that flung the heart into the Cosmos,
an explosion of Light that banished the Darkness.
A velvet undertone that smoothed all wrinkles and
put a gleam of youth on faces that were not.
They are all gone.
Now replaced with new manners
like flat champagne,
a dullness behind the eyes
capturing nothing and inspiring less-
This has replaced all the old men with beautiful manners
for they are gone and mostly forgotten
except by those who remember-
and damn well know what is missing.
–
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2016
November 24, 2016 at 9:04 pm
Maybe we dream about those good manners, but even dreaming and setting ideals is a good thing… love the contrast to those that are like flat champagne. Wonderful share, Jane.
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November 24, 2016 at 9:13 pm
There is a kind of cynical darkness in this poem, Jane, that is conveyed with some interesting and well chosen phrases. I particularly enjoyed ‘…like a well-oiled / Casanova, who glides across / the room and anchors your vanity to his side’ and ‘…flat champagne, / a dullness behind the eyes / capturing nothing and inspiring less’. And then there is so much contrasting, dazzling light in the middle stanza: ‘like diamonds thrown onto mirrors /
the room was a crystal ball spinning’, ‘an explosion of Light that banished the Darkness’ and ‘a gleam of youth’. It makes me think of the Louis XIV or Venice at the time of Casanova.
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November 24, 2016 at 10:47 pm
Casanova is a favorite study of mine. I have a few poems about him. A fascinating person and not for the usual stuff…his sexual history. He developed the Lottery in France, he was a librettist on a Mozart opera (can’t remember….think it was Cosi …Tutti) He was quite the inventor…including deodorant. LOL!
Thank you, Kim for your analysis of this poem. Perhaps you are right: cynical darkness…but I do remember the gallant European men that I was raised around (my father being Hungarian) and their amazing manners and their open attempts to seduce. They are all gone. Thank you, Kim.
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November 24, 2016 at 10:47 pm
A veritable feast of the dance between darkness and light
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November 24, 2016 at 10:48 pm
Thank you, Bjorn. As I mentioned to Kim, I am old enough to remember these men. They were real enough to a young girl.
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November 24, 2016 at 10:50 pm
Thank you, Paul. I wasn’t quite sure that this poem would meet the prompt. I was thinking of ‘then and now’….but I love what other poets see in poems. Thank you, again. And Casanova is a fascinating personality. He developed the French Lottery and he was a librettist on a Mozart opera. And a damn good violinist apparently in Venice.
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November 24, 2016 at 10:55 pm
Reblogged this on Kanti Burns, Book Reviews and more ….
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November 24, 2016 at 10:56 pm
I think it meets the prompt perfectly.
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November 25, 2016 at 1:21 am
Excellent. Watering the darkness, wow
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November 25, 2016 at 1:40 am
I love this Jane ~ Manners to me are very important and reflects a good upbringing ~ I specially love that paragraph with the now-ghosts with this: an explosion of Light that banished the Darkness.
Thanks for joining us Jane ~
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November 25, 2016 at 2:48 am
Thanks for having me, Grace! Manners are important. They are an introduction to character I believe but sadly now, thought irrelevant. Thank you, Grace.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:49 am
Thank you, erbiage….I’/m pooped from a heavy meal, and will make the rounds tomorrow.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:50 am
Thank you, Paul. I am always second guessing myself.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:50 am
I am honored, Kanti!
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November 25, 2016 at 7:27 am
I agree that Casanova is fascinating and that European men have a certain gallantry and sexiness about them. British men are either arrogant prigs or Neanderthals.
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November 25, 2016 at 7:28 am
I meant to add usually – there are, of course exceptions! I have known some lovely British men and I am married to one!
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November 25, 2016 at 7:47 am
like diamonds thrown onto mirrors
the room was a crystal ball spinning
with a magnum of champagne watering the darkness… great images. Enjoyed this piece.
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November 25, 2016 at 9:36 am
This is absolutely stunning, Jane!❤️
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November 25, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Great contrast of the manners of the old-men-now-gone with the “flat champagne” manners of today.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:14 pm
Hi Bryan, thank you. For those of us who might remember (or hope to) it’s a sad time. I remember these men when I was a young girl…the moustaches that tickled the back of your hand, the courtly manners. All gone now.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:15 pm
Thank you, Sanaa. thank you for reading and commenting.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:16 pm
thank you Thotpurge. I am slowly making the rounds this morning.
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November 25, 2016 at 2:18 pm
Hurrah for the Exceptions! Mine is German American, and also an exception. Hugs!
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November 25, 2016 at 2:21 pm
LOL! Yeah, well that seems to be the ‘standard’ view of the English. They were hiding behind the door when sensual allure was passed out. The Swedes and Norwegians, also suffer the same general view. But there are always exceptions to every rule. The Russians are overpowering. We had a Russian stove fixer a few years ago here…to fix an element in the stove…A charming, sexy man, but he scared the crap out of me. I felt like I had the Russian Mafia in my kitchen. LOL!
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November 25, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Ah, this kind of manners I see only in movies, period pieces. Maybe that’s why I like them so much. I really enjoyed this. A very nice write:)
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November 25, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Ha ha!
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November 25, 2016 at 3:07 pm
🙂
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November 25, 2016 at 3:11 pm
Thank you, Jazzytower. It used to exist in the flesh.
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November 26, 2016 at 5:45 pm
True.. my FriEnd..
Love without slow
trance romancing
eYes smoothing moves
Finger tips stranding whispers
hair
that
curves
and stRings
goose bumps
in places not
often seen..
iS perHaps
a lost
art
of modern
hook-ups and
A new Clinton is
only definition of sex..
and sure.. there are words
of SonG to Mix with DancE
more that hardships placed iN soft..:)
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November 26, 2016 at 6:35 pm
And behind the manners lurks the wolf.
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November 26, 2016 at 7:15 pm
sometimes….well, probably most times. Don’t destroy my childhood illusions, please.
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November 26, 2016 at 7:16 pm
Probably. stand in the corner with Brian, please. LOL!
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November 26, 2016 at 7:53 pm
😉
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