The Invisible Women

 

Before reading the poem below, please click on the link above. It will bring you to the Amazon site that describes the book that the movie “The Invisible Woman” screenplay was derived from.

 

My poem, below, describes my experience of watching this movie at the Summerfield Theater in Santa Rosa.  The movie was not widely distributed, and was at the theater for only a short time.  I was fortunate enough to see it as I adore Ralph Fiennes, and to watch him portray the life of Charles Dickens was a very special experience, at least for us few old gals, and one accommodating gentlemen, who still fantasize about romance.  The movie told a very disheartening love story, watched by a very small audience, and it moved me in my rather poignant way.  I’m sharing my personal experience of it in the form of a poem..  You may only understand my poem if you actually see the movie, which I highly encourage you to do if you can find it screened anywhere.  If not, pick up the book to discover a side of Charles Dickens’s life you probably don’t know.

7 Old Ladies, One Doting Love

The 4:00 matinee, a dreary Thursday, run away to love

Hiding among strangers, the silence is deafening

Popcorn slipping to the floor, he, oblivious of the disturbance

Others silently breathless, starring in the darkness

Soon, soon, we will breath, forgiving the ambient noise

The screen is alive, lovers meet, voices are soft, gazes are tentative

They will touch, warmth shared, blood flowing, hearts pounding

Move on, on to the bliss, move toward the embrace, move on

Dance, inside and out, touch, movement is a blur, the music only a backdrop, minds empty

Lust, luscious lust, in the recesses of the heart, until the next time, held in abeyance

It’s not allowed, it’s indecent, strangling the thoughts, run, don’t stop, run

Passion stays behind, being held like precious jewels

Another encounter, my heart, it’s pounding

I look around, no stirring, only the quiet breaths of those who watch

Finally the triumph of union, the entanglement of entwined flesh, melting into one

Eyes reaching out to be within each other, lips that could never part

Wrong could never be so right, so rich, so tender

Clandestine moments, smiles that refuse to fade

The window pane holding the reflection of the parting, the life force slowly sucked dry 

A cry of dread, love gone, the feeling of longing and emptiness

A flood of tears slowly dissolving everything in their path

Mercy, where is mercy, the reprieve, the end of pain, is there no mercy

There’s that sound, the man, his intrusion, again….. leave us alone in our sorrow

She must go on, she must love, she has to love, it’s our salvation

Silently, invisibly, she moves

Desire, the only desire is to be numb

Her world is empty, no color, no flavor

Death becomes her new life

The screen fades to gray, the stillness is deafening

The doting lover lays his bag on the floor, relieved, and abiding

Love still warming our souls, our tears slowly recede, as do our dreams

We each leave as we had come, alone, on a dreary day

©  Shari Adams

(Referencing the viewing of the movie – The Invisible Woman)