Stand silent with me and breathe God-air
Your stained steel-toed boots are testament
To dirty hours & the way you hold your head
A Morse code message sent
By way of glassy eyed bruising
On canvas of back pain.
The smelly sweaty residue of your years
Tattooed in eloquent detail
Onto chiseled musculature –
Perseverance transmutations
Of your iron resolve, strong ethics
and hard work.
You are the refuse of the rich
The guarantee, the tax whore,
Remnant of the middle class
& the embodiment unattainable of the derelict.
Disillusioned, but still plodding to and fro
Your silhouette betrays the cage
In which you pace - desperate
For another choice, a better view
An excuse for rage.
I will stand with you
For I too am imperfectly discouraged
Admittedly adept at finding the wrong -
But I seek a way to break from being blinded,
Or ignorant, or empty of truth,
From being a drone;
And to shed the hairshirt of cynical ugliness.
In tandem – we can choose to walk in freedom,
To gasp at sunrise beauty,
To find a path to waterfalls of restoration
And scrub ourselves with faith until we are clean
Then finally to stop. And stand quietly together
And breathe God-air.
Author notes
there can be beauty no matter where you are or what you are doing
A contest entry
- I'm glutton for punishment... by Randomly Beautiful.
600 points, ended June 24, 2008, 14 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - The passion that eludes us....this one is for the grown ups. by ElijahsRaven.
300 points, ended July 6, 2008, 6 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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I have trouble finding this beauty. It doesn't come to me often but when it does well. Then I appreciate it. Nice write Thank you for sharing.
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Good JoB
I think this is very well done. I believe this is a good write and you're very talented. The imagery is descriptive and nicely spread out but confusing at points. Overall I like it. :0
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...to shed the hairshirt of cynical ugliness..this is the way we have all become it seems...that we are all overcome by cyniscm because it is too hard to fight and have hope anymore...great write!
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Strong, overwhelming
Well done, but seems a bit furious offsets the poem, like a contrast of message and intention. But very well done. honestly written and meaningful purpose
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Ah..a strong immagery with a strong message of this life..well done...well done..and my thanks for sharing it...my friend..
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gawdy, yet nicely descriptive
thanks for the entry. Im sure that this poem will get many wonderful reviews. -
I will stand with you
For I too am imperfectly discouraged
Admittedly adept at finding the wrong -
But I seek a way to break from being blinded,
Or ignorant, or empty of truth,
From being a drone;
And to shed the hair shirt of cynical ugliness
That's my favorite verse in the poem! This poem is totally awesome! I love the feeling that it has and the way that it has the ability to move someone. I hope to see more good poetry from you and to see you around. I always have contests going on, you should enter a poem sometime. I am pretty sure that you will win some!
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