A Heart Without Words Review

Rating: 4/5

Title: A Heart Without Words

Author: David F. McDonald

Page Count (ebook): 48

Page Count (print): 96

Official Amazon Description

This is the first of two books which deal with the one thing the Military can’t train, THE HEART, and the emotions a Soldier may encounter.This poetry deals with the emotions Soldiers and their loved ones must deal with in a myriad of situations.

This poetry is much softer in nature to my previous work and is, I hope, easier on the reader for that.

My Thoughts

      I have to say this is definitley one of the better collections of poetry I have read. First of all, at 96 pages in print it is a good length for a collection of poetry. Though it may seem insignificant, the page count in poetry collections is very important, if there are too few poems then the reader never truly discovers the author's writing style and if there are too many poems the reader can get bored. Trust me, I've read published poetry collections 6 pages in length, hardly a sufficient length for a poetry collection. So what I'm saying here is right from the start A Heart Without Words was on top of its game.

      Despite the occasional typo, which didn't bother me but may bother some readers, the poetry within the pages of this book is very good. I found it a very unique read as many of the poems were written in the form of dialogue, something that I haven't seen very often in poetry. The verse itself is mainly written in terms of rhyme, there was very little free verse included in this collection. The majority of the poems seemed to focus upon the various ways soldiers die and their thoughts during death. These morbid poems were if profoundly sad, beautifully written. I would recommend this collection of poetry to all those who are prepared to contemplate the final thoughts of dieing men and women.

   If you are interested in reading a sample of the poetry included in this book, I featured one of McDonald's poems titled A Soul during my Highlight Poetry segment, you can check that out here.

Buy Links:

Amazon (kindle)

 

Highlight Poetry #4

A Soul

By: David Mc Donald

A soul awaits a journey to be made, unaware of why or where it goes

Confused alone and even frightened, the soul forgotten all it knows

As if reborn from something old, the fruits of some great unknown feat

A spirit which hovers unaware of its place, oblivious to who it will meet

An invisible entity of a person’s life, all that went before they grew

Then when still on unfounded feet, a sense of movement where it flew

The feeling of accompaniment, someone is now by their side

A being who allows peace and love, one who shows them their own pride

Not flight but a soft elevation, climbing effortlessly to where they go

Beside the spirit climbs with freedom, a dawning as they come to know

The existence just departed behind, feelings of regret and pain and desire

All that made a man has gone, now a feeling a sense a being on fire

There awaits a new existence, visible tangible and real laid out ahead

The home of superior being born, your God you know has made your bed

The rush of love and affection from around, a feeling of where you belong

Within a beautiful resonance vibrates, your being has burst forth with song

A Brief Commentary

       Today's poem for Highlight Poetry was submitted to me by David Mc Donald. The first time I read this poem I was immediatley drawn to it and lost myself in the journey the soul was making. In my first reading of this poem, I percieved that the poem was on a carefree sort of journey as it departed the misery behind it. Upon reading the poem a second time however, I realized that there was indeed a deeper and more sombre tone to the poem as the soul overcame the pain of death and the regrets of life to travel ever skyward to heaven. I also noticed upon re-reading the poem the progression of the soul as a being. Where as in the beginning the soul was an "invisible entity" and referred to as something separate than its human shell (due to its journey from the body at death) by the end of the poem, the soul is referred to as the most spiritual (not necessarily in the religious sense) of "you". I think that perhaps this progression from the soul being a separate entity identified seperatley from the deceased person to it actually becoming "you" was the most poignant part of the poem, as it discovered itself.

What struck you about this poem? Were you more struck by the soul's 'physical' journey out of death or it journey of self-awareness?