Pressed beneath pack
of lifetime gains,
my weary way
stretches horizonward.
Ponderous plodding,
can strength endure?
At last, will
I lament my loss?
Windstorm adversity howls,
sandpaper claws snatch,
steal, swift away
unsecured habits, complexity's
chaos, popular patterns -
society's identity indicators.
Bereft,
I lament my loss.
Nighttime foxes of exhaustion
gnaw cords of pride,
loose canvas of vanity,
consume youth’s beauty
and bulky inexperience.
Predations disclosed
by morning light,
I lament my loss.
Hungry afflictions consume
leisure’s obesity,
blinding sun of circumstance
lights inadequacy’s mirror.
Fading mind
unclasps colors of blame,
fear’s vultures find no feast
as I lay empty,
to lament my loss.
Loss, my fought foe,
lifts me to my feet.
Shod with shining experience,
garbed in simplicity's glow;
upon the gentle breath of heaven,
as gossamer we glide
Home.
Author notes
bereft: deprived and made desolate
predation: plundering, robbing
Mirthryl
Prompt: Loss, gain, change (philosophy)
A contest entry
- Loss, gain, and change (Philosophy) by SoulfulBubbles.
400 points, ended January 24, 2009, 14 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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Ah, my friend I can relate all too well to this beautiful, poignant poem. Like you I have lost career, strength, what I saw as a sort of social status, health issues are more cumbersome now, I've lost my sense of where I fit, my place. I blame myself for much of what I've lost. I feel I let it blow away.
And yet, your final verse brings much solace.
Maybe some losses make us lighter to carry on hope's wing.
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Beautiful "lighter to carry on hope's wing"! Yes, so much must be left behind when it is time to go. Perhaps adversity is the shoehorn to ease us out of our old trappings and into the new?
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You have shared ...
almost a lifetime worth of ponderous thought and mind imagery on aging and did so using good poetic techniques for free verse. Your choice of words made reading this poem interesting and the last verse made it comforting. Nice work. j
y
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Abstract imagery!
I like the style, tone and language in this. It works very well as linear thought. Thank you for your entry.
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