I bare my soul in verse for all to read
the tattered edges of my life revealed;
this precipice from which I hang is weak
I feel it crumble as I cling for life.
I hold my breath and pray they understand
the depth and breadth of all that I have penned.
I stumble through the fog that fills my days
and hope for words of comfort, simply one.
Instead I find I do not measure up,
some unrelenting rules, the game has changed.
My tears are real, the trail they've burned across
my cheek will never heal. A metaphor?
A heartless cad this giver of rebuke,
do they not know the truth behind my tale?
The blood and sweat I've poured in every line,
and tears I wept that blurred the words I penned?
~
We do not know what history has wrought;
what scars or open wounds a person bears.
The heart is tender, bruised with just a touch
by words one meant to build the other up.
Once spoken, words can never be erased,
though we may try, it is of little use.
To battle back will only prove them out.
So step away and walk the higher road
and heed the words of wiser men who've passed:
"Oh never does the human soul appear
so strong and noble as when it forgoes
revenge and dares forgive an injury."
Author notes
Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.
Author: Edwin Hubbel Chapin 1814-1880, American Author, Clergyman
A contest entry
- What Would You Do? by cherche -d -ame.
2625 points, ended July 29, 2007, 14 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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i felt emotion flowing with every word of this poem..enjoyed it
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"The heart is tender, bruised with just a touch
by words one meant to build the other up."
Yes...spoken like a true poet...
heedless of
the tears that spill,
heart to thrill
in hope of dreams to wing ~
Still, we will sweet hope to fill
life with love and soul to sing.
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Profound
I like where you have taken your thought, really empathising and relating what may have been the motivation behind the insult. We don't know what people are thinking, unless they tell us - someone who is feeling attacked does not reveal his thoughts.
This is lovely blank verse, very well done.
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Thank you!
It has been a long time since I have attempted iambs, but I really do like blank verse. For some reason this theme, and actually part of my comment on your entry is what spurred this one into being.
There were only a couple of points where I really got hung up in the meter. I know that there are a few lines here and there that I ask the reader to emphasize a lesser word, but I have also learned, through all my anapestic writing that an extra unstressed syllable or a wrinkle in meter can be overlooked when the rest around it is strong and carries you past.
It feels really good to be writing again and to have puulled together iambs, amazing!
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this is an absolutely beautiful entry. It has that feel of "olde poetry " to it and at the same time a message that is more than just an entry into a contest....it is almost an invocation by which we should choose to live our lives by.
Thank you so much for entering,
reenie
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Thank you for the inspiration. I have been gone from AP for nearly a year and I have only returned about a week ago. I had yet to try blank verse again, but this theme just lent itself so well.
You said this sounded like "olde poetry", that is because it is iambic pentameter, the same meter of sonnets, but without the rhyme and line limitations.
Thank you for your kind words, I look forward to future contests by you.
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