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Pendulum Rubaiyat

The pendulum of history shall swing
now to, now fro, pride break or profits bring:
thus one ‘should take the current when it serves’
for Change is in the air and on the wing.
eyes 

The century snails onwards in its slime,
or so it seems to those who actions mime

as if they were the puppet masters, still

strings stay attached to the design of Time.

 eyes 

Soon we will witness Nature’s thunder hurled.
Pandora’s box has menaces unfurled
which angry retribution will afford
Mankind for the abuses of our world.

eyes 

Convenience converts much truth to fiction

outside pure science for what's held conviction

acts as a shield protecting ignorance

from fears life's one-way ticket, then eviction.

eyes 

Song, sweet today tomorrow wrong, may bring

misfortune, tune some other pipers sing,
perchance won't sound as sweet as it deserves,
shun bells that ring, leave only hands to wring.

eyes 

When doomsday burns in fire or icy rime, 

who'll care a tinker's curse for prose or rhyme,

attention spans grow shorter by the day

while dreams forgotten lie in Styx quicklime.  

eyes 

Perceptions rarely are sustained, we're whirled

willy-nilly, helter-skelter, curled

as foetus round our pre-conceptions, bet

hedge against deception's underworld.

eyes 

Minds, blind, swap narrow scope for hopes' prediction,

erase discomfort phase by phrase whose diction

draws less from facts and more from praising Chance

which scoffs at both, ironic valediction.

eyes 

What will remain thereafter of Man's skin

shell history, of struggles' loss or win,

a potsherd shard ? polluted plastic trash ?

rash who believes he'll outlive cycles' spin.

eyes 

Vae victis ! history's a partial tale

writ by the victors while beyond the pale

are exiled vanquished, shadows pale must roam,

as all leads to New Rome, avoids dust stale.

eyes 

Who terrorist, who freedom fighter fell

forgotten down time's plumbless pit, well, well

depends upon the way the cookie crumbles

enshrined in marble or confined to hell.

eyes 

'Remembered' is 'Forgotten's' favoured twin

Virtue today becomes tomorrow's sin,

while modesty as imprudent or rash

is redefined by timeline's litter bin.

eyes 

Who heads once called by day by night bawls tail

while bubble reputations fragile fail,

mirage politicians' honeycomb

turn 'fact' to 'fancy' languishing in jail.

eyes 

Value judgements' superficial swell

subside, belied by subsequent retell,

hidden agenda, vested interest tumbles

from pillar falls as ends this verse, farewell !

 

 

 

 

Author notes

Contest option 6) ‘…history is fiction.’ – Maximilien Robespierre

pic : http://flickr.com/photos/mateorodriguez/1736955839/

‘should take the current when it serves’

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted all the voyage of their lives is bound in shadows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat and we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures. William Shakespeare Julius Caesar

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Comments

1 - 8 of 8

  • Night Hope gold member
    September 7, 2008

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    Gorgeousness, Scribe.

    I enjoyed the picture muchly, as well as your marvelous skills & telemetry, dear Scribe. My 50th birthday is on the 24th, comin' up soon...you know, Lady Justice & all. I am a Libra, as well as a LIBRArian & a "Lea Bra", besides. lol

     

    I love your writing, my Friend.

     

    The animated eyes made me slightly nauseous, though.  lol

     

     


  • Lily of the Valley
    September 7, 2008

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    Another fine look at the activity of society and the fortunes or misfortunes of mankind. A longer read but well worth the effort though I found the eyes a little hypnotizing between each stanza. The more I read in rubaiyat form the more I like it and your rhyme and rhythm are a treat to those of us who struggle to attain such hugh standards.


  • Clovis...Curious silver member
    September 7, 2008

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    Superb plus

    Ah, 'tis a fine write, indeed, my friend. Imagery, rhythm and rhyme are just fine. Thanks for sharing this one with us. Your second stanza reminded me of an old novel by Robert A Heinlien, called: "The Puppet Masters". A link in a moment:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters

    Heinlien: http://www.heinleinsociety.org/


  • unavailable
    September 7, 2008

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    Wonderfully done Sir Jon


  • frownsnfreckles
    September 7, 2008

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    Soon we will witness Nature’s thunder hurled.
    Pandora’s box has menaces unfurled
    which angry retribution will afford
    Mankind for the abuses of our world.

    a powerful condemnation of the rashness of a modern age content with only shortsighted visions and instant greed.

  • evidently
    September 7, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    What I really liked about this was how well you chose and used the form: the idea of a pendulum fits perfectly with the way the rhyme appears and disappears and then swings back again. The rhyme is done very well and for the most part doesn’t feel forced, and it gives the poem a kind of relentlessness, pushing forward towards the end faster than is comfortable for the reader – which seems to go very well with what you’re saying in the poem. You also used internal rhyme very effectively to add to this.

    ‘What will remain thereafter of Man's skin
    shell history, of battles' loss or win,
    a potsherd shard ?’

    I think this could use some work – I know how hard it is with rhyme – but things like ‘battles’ loss or win’ feel awkward to me. That said, I love ‘skin/shell history’ – the double meaning of shell creating a sense of fragility and hollowness, but sitting so close to the word ‘battles’, it also made me think of military explosive shells.
    I’m not sure about the ending – the ‘farewell’ in particular. Again I know it’s difficult – trust me, I can’t do rhyme to save my life – but this is again one of the few rhymes in the poem that does feel rather forced.

    ‘Course, these are just my impressions, you may totally disagree. Anyway, thanks for entering!


    • Jonathan ROBIN
      September 7, 2008
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      Farewell's welfare

      I have reluctantly amended battles to struggles but perhaps the point should be made that definitions of victory thus of history frequently depend upon which end of the proverbial telescope is looked through and of course the time element at which it is analyzed.

      See also the three witches to Macbeth ...

      when the hurly-burly's done
      when the battle's lost or won

      Was the battle won if one victory led straight into the jaws of defeat ?
      __________________

      Where a car turns into a steet,
      there Truth and Fiction meet ... (JR)



      See for example Robert Graves on the battle of Marathon

      The Persian Version

      Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
      The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.
      As for the Greek theatrical tradition
      Which represents that summer's expedition
      Not as a mere reconnaisance in force
      By three brigades of foot and one of horse
      (Their left flank covered by some obsolete
      Light craft detached from the main Persian fleet)
      But as a grandiose, ill-starred attempt
      To conquer Greece - they treat it with contempt;
      And only incidentally refute
      Major Greek claims, by stressing what repute
      The Persian monarch and the Persian nation
      Won by this salutary demonstration:
      Despite a strong defence and adverse weather
      All arms combined magnificently together.



      GRAVES Robert 1895_1985



      In respect of the rubaiyat rhymes you may have noticed that aaxa bbxb ccxc ddxd is repeated in the first half and the rhyme scheme of the 9th to 11th stanzas is repeated in the three following verses

      In respect to the final farewell it is also that of the poet to the reader

      • evidently
        September 7, 2008
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        Sorry if I wasn't being clear - it wasn't the word 'battles' I objected to but the word 'win' - surely it ought to be 'won'?

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