Galena’s Café
Once a refuge for Jorge and I
After blue death stole our missionary parents
Returning when desert fox threatened
To meet my brother, one final time
Eating, laughing over our Saleps
As I stand here now
Among broken tables and chairs
I feel as abandoned as this place
My body, no longer youthful
Vivid images of bygones fill my mind
Memories can’t be stolen, only given
Galena
Its name, Healer
Its walls, balm for one’s brokenness
A place, for a time
Shone as a beacon for those in darkness
Now darkened, damaged
She shall be renamed Anastasia
Like a phoenix, she’ll rise from the dust
and be that healing light once more
*Author’s Note: Galen’s Cafe is a fictional place set in London during the 1920s to 1960s period.
Type of Critique: NCCO
A writer & her adolescent muse 
Love this line… “Memories can’t be stolen, only given”
Such sorrow in some of those memories – but I doubt she’d give them away!
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Thank you! 🙂
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I hope that healing light does shine again – on us all.
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Me too!
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Such a sense of loss. But with the phoenix comes hope…
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As long as one is breathing, there is always hope!
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Beautifully written! It may be fictional, but it sounds like a real place, one we’ve all visited at one time or another. Shared feelings, shared losses, shared hopes!
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Thank you 🙂
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I love the final lines – ‘Like a phoenix, she’ll rise from the dust
and be that healing light once more’. Hope enshrined in your words. Like Yolanda says, it seems a real place, not fictional, so that says something of your talent.
Thanks Carrie Ann for posting you healing poem for our WEP CAFE TERRACE prompt. Like many excellent entries, this will linger with me.
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Thank you, Denise! 🙂
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Sorrowful, but with a glimmer of hope. Your poem stirs a wide range of my emotions.
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Thank you, Olga 🙂
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I particularly liked the imagery in
‘As I stand here now
Among broken tables and chairs
I feel as abandoned as this place’
and I also liked that it ends on a hopeful note. The Cafe as a metaphor for the wider world. Hope it does manage to throw off its problems and rise again. Well crafted poem and a great take on the prompt.
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Thank you! 🙂
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Hi,
Your rhythm is heavy in this poem giving it sorrow like in a requiem. It sets the stage for the sadness and sorrow over things that once were and are no more. Your last three lines bring in a beacon of light turning the poem from sorrow to revitalization. Galena will be rebuilt and stand again under a new name.
Very well done. I like the way you transitioned the poem into joy.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G
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Thank you, Pat 🙂
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A feeling of loss, things gone and lost, weighing heavily on the heart. But then, light at the end of the tunnel with the hope of resurrection. I loved how you put together the essentials of life. Loss and hope. Thanks!
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Thank you so much 🙂
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I like the comparison between how she felt and the look of the cafe. You captured the feeling of abandonment very well in just a few words.
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Thank you 🙂
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I didn’t understand all of the contextual references (blue death, desert fox, etc.) on first reading, but nevertheless, it affected me emotionally and I really enjoyed the lyrical quality and the sad yet hopeful tone of the piece. I love the last three lines especially, and the name Anastasia is a great choice that links perfectly with the meaning.
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Thank you kindly! 🙂 It’s a period piece if you will and I realize that not everyone will get the metaphors. “Blue death” refers to Cholera which was a common illness/disease back in the early 20th century. “Desert fox” is a nickname for World War 2. Thank you for visiting!
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There’s so much emotion in this piece, It packs a real punch and the writing is lyrical. Thank you sharing!
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Thank you 🙂
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Beautifully written
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Thank you, Donna 🙂
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I love the lines:
„A place, for a time
Shone as a beacon for those in darkness“
That is all we can hope for, short or long that time might be.
Thank you for an emotional journey with hope at the end.
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Thank you, Carole 🙂
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It’s always sad when places that were once beautiful and vibrant go to ruin. An impressive piece!
~cie from team netherworld~
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Thank you, Cara!
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There is so much to discover in your poem – it’s concise but conveys a wealth of feeling.
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Thank you, Sally! 🙂
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Hi Carrie Ann – I didn’t realise the connotations with the names, but guessed them … and had realised the cafe had been bombed (or that’s what I thought) … and thus the phoenix could in due time rise again. But well done in a few words …especially as you’re in the USA and the setting is London … cheers Hilary
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Thank you, Hilary 🙂
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Thank you Carrie for this heartfelt poem, very moving. I was there, back in time.
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Thank you, Susan! 🙂
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A poem with hidden gems, Carrie Ann – and the ‘vivid images of bygones’. I sense this is the tip of a world taking shape. Will we see more? I’m reaching out for that ‘balm’. Blue death = cholera was new to me, while ‘desert fox’ made me think of WW2, specifically Rommel, the Desert Fox.
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Thank you, Roland! This was originally an idea for a short story but then I realized what I had planned at that time might require a novella to do it justice. To make it fit for this challenge, I stripped it down to its bare essentials and wrote it as a poem instead. Glad you enjoyed!
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Your poem was such an enjoyable experience. I specially liked these lines, “Vivid images of bygones fill my mind
Memories can’t be stolen, only given”.
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Thank you! 🙂
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There is a nice balance in these words. There is clear loss and sorrow, but references to “light” and “the phoenix” also give a sense of hope. Nicely done.
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Thank you, Toi! 🙂
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Indeed… Memories cannot be stolen and they are the most precious things to have.
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I can’t see my first comment, so here’s another one! I love the hope at the end even though there is so much sadness. But that is such an accurate fact of life. Sadness happens, pain happens, but to survive make sure that you keep a tight hold on hope!
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