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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
Life: it’s very complex. It’s full of pain and sorrow, but it is also full of love and happiness. How does one express these deep emotions? How does one put down in words the passage of time, the meaning of life itself? It is a difficult task, but Canadian poet Natalie Ducey has just the words to accomplish this task. However, like life itself, the task of expressing life in verse is never-ending. It goes on for eternity, like life itself goes on.
The Heart’s Journey Home is Natalie’s first book of poetry. Having worked in counselling for many years, this poet knows and appreciates the deepest power and versatility of the human spirit. In twenty-three poems, Natalie explores many different kinds of love: romantic love, the forever love of a lifetime partnership, friendship (which is also a form of love), family love and love for life itself, in spite of the pain that all these loves can inflict when love is lost.
But love can also be an illusion, as the poet points out in “Love’s Illusion.” It is a dream that can also be filled with heartache and sorrow, but, as the poet declares, “My eyes hold no mystery/ No story untold/ But my words fall mute/ Merely protecting my soul.” The human soul, the human spirit prevails above all. Very profoundly worded. In “Fallen Angel,” the poet expresses more sorrow for love lost, as she also points out that “Your angel wings were torn/ But in time they will mend…” She concludes with very deep thoughts: “Nothing is ever lost/ Nor broken in vain/ It is the tapestry of life/ A picture that has been framed.”
Using metaphors and similes, rhyming verse and free verse, Natalie has opened her heart to the renderings of the human spirit, the human soul. Cleverly presented; words that need repeated study and reflection.