Quiet Sheba: Volume Iii

By Elizabeth Clayton

Three is a numerical symbol used throughout literature, especially Holy Scripture, to signify completion, the full whole, the circle joined. In Volume III of Quiet Sheba, the final volume of the trilogy, I have, again, my lamentations, with their similar subjects and themes as different and repeated vehicles of carriage for thought, finishing the construct provided by work already known to my readers. There are death- and triumph, joy beside heavy sorrow, but, more, the very purposed movement within experience, carrying toward a conclusion, that of ones own place, again, at table.
We do conclude, as we began, at table, but with more cautious steps and thoughtful strategies; and continuing, beauty remains, for many, for me, the antidote to sorrow, with illness and bitter acceptance, full, still, often.
The valediction then, is thoughtful: for morning, it remains, sunrise; for evening it falls gently as twilight. But whether a passage in nature, or the appearing of a memory- a hymn or prayer of any of many methods of closure these verses finally conclude, a coming back to table, to the feast of life, for we come to know that there is no antidote to truth, and ours, now, is the only life we can objectively know; when living is no longer a reality, it is not. As Stephen Cranes desert beast states, while eating its own heart, crying bitter, bitter we, as the beast, embrace, take into ourselves eat, drink, - all for it is the only one we have, and we love it if to the side, to use the French poet, Verlaines poignant strikingly powerful closing words describing the falling seasonal ambiance of the year: Et je pleure (And I weep) the fullest source of working truth, reason, giving up the response poetic beautiful or no: And I weep.
In life, we are not wise, but willful, yet in the holistic view, we live our most sentiment lying over reason, it very now hurting, but with that arrangement with which we look, always, to find the grail, the feast, the peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Dec 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490768427

Elizabeth Clayton

Elizabeth Clayton is a retired college and university professor in fields of Psychology and Literature. Since retirement, she has written almost daily and has produced twenty-three works, primarily poetry. She has received numerous commendations including membership in Sigma Kappa Delta, nominations for the Eric Hoffer award, and representation at numerous world book fairs. In addition, she has received several U S Review recommendations. She has also received several Golden Seal of Excellence Awards by her publisher. Her first work was I, Elizabeth which dealt with her struggles with Bipolar illness and her most recent work was published in early 2019, a review in poetry of the fable/myth of the White Hart. Other outstanding titles are Scarlet Flow, Quiet Sheba (a trilogy), We Lesser Gods, and Addendum, and The Kept Ecclesia of Agatha Moi. She lives alone in her country home near Jackson, Mississippi. In 2018 a large volume of poetry was published, The Kept Eclessia of Agatha Moi, and her most recent work, a review of the myth\fable of the white hart, Jason’s Pause, was published in early 2019.

Book preview

All paintings, sculptures and design pieces were done by Elizabeth Clayon and assisted throughout, including photography, by Tonia Germany.

© Copyright 2016 Elizabeth Clayton.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN:

978-1-4907-6843-4 (sc)

            978-1-4907-6842-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014915903

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Trafford rev. 12/30/2015

11783.png www.trafford.com

North America & international

toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

fax: [phone]

CONTENTS

Quiet Sheba Volumes II & III: Introductory Gestalt

Preface

Expository, Sister Missive

Elizabeth Afterthought

An Essential Addendum: The Eastern Wisdom Motif

The Lamentations Into Redemption

Nature

His Countenance

Ebony

Beautiful Sisters

The Last of It

Dawn

Quiet Gold

Sorrowful Intervention

The Bringing

Walking Past

The Litany

Duet

My Gardening

Daybreak

The Assuaging

The Peace

Present Voluntaire

Serpent Light

The Purpose

The Season of Now

The Fancy

Quiet Reflection

Benedictive Psalm

Night in Summer

Darkened Visitation

Nightsongs

A Season Abbreviated

Awakening

The Born of Morning

Winter Painting

A Season

Solitude

All Else

Twilight Walk

Come Jolly Roe

Benign Justice

The Power

Baggage II

Necessity

The Presence

The Enjoinment

Past Feast

Trilogied Inventory

In Season

Morning Vignette

Resolution

The Wisdom

Winter Light

Monument

Unheard Sounds

Generous Repertoire

A Late Observation

Holding Summer

Wisdom

Friendship’s Sacrament

Consoled Buddha

Elijah’s Lesson

The Season of Now

Standing Half

Moonsalve

Choosing the Duck Vocabulary

Wooden Tulips

Sunflower Blush

For Truth

Full Beauty

Journey

Spiders Weave (Morning Notes, One)

The Arrangement in the Glass

The Marriage

The Only Theme

A Song for Joyce

The Insanity

Without Words

The Walk

The Wounding

Memory’s Ceremony

Early Dress

The Turn

Prayers Beautiful

Knowing Gift

The Better Strawberry

Dishes

Day Kings

Psalm

The Passion of Sister Elizabeth

Within Memory

Lullaby

The Plan

The Curse

This Face

Soft Courage

Memory’s Alchemy

The Golden Earring

Salvation’s Verse

Winged Light

The Finding

Cherished Abuse

Jeweled Coals

The Preface

Humble Antiquity

Night Passion

Perhaps

Wholly Coursed

The Beauty Shop: New Season

Portions

Petit Ironhorse

The Good Herbs

The Wisdom

Review

My Minuet

Overmuch

A Quiet Sheba

Concluding Sentiment -- the wisdom here presented:

Other works by Elizabeth Clayton

QUIET SHEBA VOLUMES II & III: INTRODUCTORY GESTALT

In sorrow, the devastating beauty which is the plumb line ingredient to life, and its players – these take, certain, their portion. We, in its thrusting upon us, accept, on some part, to struggle for balance, and, without exception, accept, in our own fashion – with struggle, or without.

Particulars are, and are not, so important – only to say that I was left, first, in these verses, of this second volume, in great need of comfort, support – on many fronts - and understanding, with at least some acceptance of myself, emerging, out all of the years with Dr. Sutton, and the crisis, then, at his untimely death, in which I found myself; in this afterwards – the verses of the second volume – are darker, so with falling into continuing, long; the circumstance of my family, in their complete absence, was almost intolerable. But after almost five years, my leg did heal, and I, in my solitude and reactive aggressiveness – if at times softly contemplative thought – I found the hours, into days and years, a time of repressing the full of my soul, a pensive source of reflecting as is found, often, in others who are not easily able to negotiate with heavy loss. There is always hope – if widening and being fulfilled, only portending, but the scar of the tear, its lengthy, incomplete healing – the illness which could not be bested – all are evident in the verses of Quiet Sheba II, the repression, with strength out hard pain – which, if with small confidence, itself, strengthens its own – achieving.

Subjects, vocabulary, and former components of style continue from those of Volume I. The miniatures (of oil and acrylic, some on glass), and paintings which appoint this portion of the record, came about in other troubled times – many, later – all of which did not allow my usual expressions – being in bed, and unable to manage large canvases; these appear in clever varieties of the diminutive, while others are simple miniatures as background to fine, hand pressed pieces of flora in clay or, in company with other selected, larger paintings of oil on canvas, showing as abstracts in Volume III, color of course, as it works with movement, in subordinate fashion, bringing the theme. With the third volume, wisdom, with insight, is bound about by pain, but it emerges as the light of stability, allowing the comfort, the peace of which thought is in constant search, this press yielding a beauty that is ultimately enough – the final exchange for one’s place at the table of the feast of life.

Elizabeth

May 23, 2015

PREFACE

When an author has completed the manuscript for the first of a three volume composition, particularly lyric poetry, without well drawn characters, specific conflicts and such, one might ask, and with good reason, What else is to be said. In these brief, accompanying remarks gathered together so that the section might be more readily understood and enjoyed, I offer my hypothesis so that this portion of the whole meet its purpose.

Almost all poetry centers on love and/or death and certainly the ingredient of hurt, even of joy, at a death that is not true. Andso, in Volume One I wrote of nature, solitude and wisdom: my daily portion in life for over six years; what else is to be said – more, much more specific instances of this phenomenon of hurt, pain, loss – not physically, though at times, related, but most significantly, emotionally.

All of my verses are personal, workings toward the universal; they may center on a flower, an animal; a psychological sting or massive blow as in loss of faith, but the carriage of the thought is more often than not different, particular to the intuiting (an image, an idea, a sensation), the subject has lighted within me, at a particular moment. It is here that my emphasis, in these remarks lies: we, washed over by the individualization and self-examination of our cohorts of time and place, experience myriads of perceptions and responses to just as many stimuli. Some are in full awareness to us, and others may be working toward, or are, presently, absent.

When one enters psychotherapy, the effort is difficult, or, finally, nearly ineffective if the progress of the troubled client is only, always, I feel bad. Life is filled to brimming with the fashion in which we can perceive almost any one, individual circumstance and motivation. Therefore, if a verse is about solitude, but particular to the involved reader’s circumstance of solitude – in honesty of heart, he may experience elevation of a deeper mood by a suggested memory through reading of others who carry a heavier sack of stones –gratitude in present joy; it is a resilient nudge to understand that salvation does not rest in the knowing of all the answers, that darkness can be, is often, prelude to light. The picture of the words I am using here is perhaps more clearly drawn by further words: a hypothesis presented through a situational example.

The night, then, not being forever, rapport is established, confirmed; a measure of insight is found, and the grand wonder of resolution is experienced through another’s sentiment offered, extended—given—in words. Tension is reduced, camaraderie if