Two thousand seven and all we have is broken -
Another Icarus tale in the making
Desperate hands drip wide open
And crooked eyes will never know
We eat because we aren’t hungry
And we’re gorging slowly away
Filling holes that breed a sickness
For the sake of saving face
The Holy Romans fall
And romance falls away
Because a schism split our heartstrings
As fault lines do decay
Thus such craven are found
In bottles, sky scrapers, and alleyways away
On church pews, pulpits, and jail cells
Each a stone table has remade
As we make cages out of consumer goods
And the latest celebrity mistake
We hunger, so we fill ourselves
and we’re full so we keep on taking
In hopes of taking hunger away
Solomon, in all his wisdom,
grew rich and continued gain
and in the end he cried “bitter!”
but found himself as a slave
Over two thousand years in the making
and still we haven’t discovered the way
Thoreau caught the edges
Gandhi the first lines of the page
Jesus charged the rich young ruler
And each of the wise ones say;
The gainer never gains enough
But the giver has known contentment’s face
Author notes
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"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature at work in that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else."
-Peyton Conway March
"You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give."
-Winston Churchill
"There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
2007RC102
A contest entry
- The Raven Contest: Uncovering Genius in the Written Word by Raven Contest.
14500 points, ended October 1, 2007, 53 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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I enjoyed the references made throughout to those great thinkers of our past whose philosophies are used by association as supporting evidence for your own statements. I also liked the versitatlity of thought that exists in this piece. We can consider your "absence" to be so many different things, but in the end we come back to the stuff that the author's notes quotes are made of, which is, in a word, love. We have lost our classical definitions that seemed to mature to a point and then never progress further. Or perhaps it is only vanity to believe that we have ever built up a temple to our ideals in this regard. Either way, this is a thought-provoking instrument as timeless as the loss it laments.
Thank you for your entry.
~Das -
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Indeed, an excellent observation that, ultimately, the point of this poem comes down to love. Love stifles and imminently destroys greed, a disease I can see far too readily in the eyes and hearts of this world. It is true that we have lost the true meaning of love in this place of racing paces and never-resting hearts. We run, build, buy, eat, sell, sleep, and forget to ever stop to look at the trail of choas that drifts behind us.
In case you are interested, this poem goes along with a piece of prose that I am hoping to develop into a book that deals with a number of problems I see in our society. If you would like to read, a large part of the essay is found here;
http://www.theeverlastingfallout.com/?p=184
I look forward to seeing the results of this contest, the entrants are all stunningly skilled. Use discretion in your judgements
-Thefallout
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The gainer never gains enough
But the giver has known contentment’s face
I really like the moral to your story it fresh. It contains a lesson about life. Do not chase what you want. Give it away it comes back to you. Human nature can be selfish in nature, make sure there needs are care for. It take a greater enlightenment to share,love and help those in need. Very well done. Brief to the point. Not over done or understated. Great work. Good luck on this round. -
I think when we look at an overall picture of the world’s societies today it’s all too easy to view a scene of self destruction which may lead to annihilation because of selfishness and greed. It appears far easier to take than to give or even share and it often seems the more we have the more we want, but giving to others nurtures far more profit than taking from them. Looking at the physical aspects of giving I believe more could be done to share the worlds wealth more evenly but societies also need to ensure there own sustainability. What is often lacking, both on the grander scale of the world in general and the smaller scale of personal interaction, is willingness to show real compassion for the plight of others. It is commonplace to hear “we care” but the practise of showing care is not so readily seen. I think this applies not only to the practical issues of life such as ensuring every one has a decent standard of living but also to the spiritual side of life, giving support and showing others they are cared about as human beings, that their life is worth something. I think there is much in this poem to give readers pause for thought about their world and how each of them perform in it and I like the lines “Over two thousand years in the making / and still we haven’t discovered the way” because they appear the key point but I also feel the last stanza shows us a glimpse of hope if only we take note of the ‘great men’ who have led the way through history.
Congratulations on reaching the final round of the Raven Contest 2007 and good luck with this entry.
Northern Raven
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