The Joys of Waking
When from camp bed cramp limbs I raise,
I never hesitate to praise
Lord Luck, loud laud and by degrees
attain crescendo ! Nor bent knees,
nor moving lips, dumb witness lay
with supplication night or day,
convinced Fate’s finger points to please.
No reverential resignation
may undermine anticipation,
wish ill conceived, thought un expressed,
defensive mind-set, wants supressed.
Nowhere there’s sense of supplication -
for boundless strength spurns condemnation –
strength weakness spurns, by Fate twice blessed.
No shapes and thoughts some others see
in anguish and in agony,
up-starting from some fiendish crowd
of rued regrets bewailed aloud,
spoil waking moments which new dawn
should welcome, hibernation torn.
No nightmares bets hedged, lead head bowed.
Ignoring sense of painful wrong
lights lurid, frightful trampling throng,
for rights I fight forthrightfully
weave justice into equity.
Desires with loathing strangely mixed,
on threatening fearful neighbours fixed,
are strangers, foreigners for me;
The clock of optimism ticks
to scorn manipulative tricks,
thirst for revenge with powerless will
allied both baffled, burning, still
are absent from life’s waking leap
as from soft coverlets eyes peep
at fresh ambitions to fulfill.
Though aims stay hidden, flames are bid
to temper soul’s steel, conquering Cid
fools suffers not, time spilt, guilt, woe,
all banished by the will to know
without confusion, waste of time,
the causal links that tune life’s chime
through strings slave puppet daren’t o’erthrow.
Some toss, nights lost, to vain dismay,
sad, stunted, stunned, numbed, waking day
fear to embrace. Electron free
on waves chromatic, joyfully,
I would advance from sleep to greet
sustained success, triumph complete,
repudiating apathy.
Some treat quite as catastrophe
night’s spite, when haunting phantoms free
range till cock’s crow wakes from dream’s page
strange sufferings which teem and rage
as migraine’s over-riding theme
denying sunshine’s balmy beam –
convicts convinced by self-made cage.
Such punishments, I say, seem due
to twisted natures who simmer, stew
in their own fiery hell within
nocturnal sin sweat, fear to win.
Few slumber sound who can’t dispell
past problems from sleep tidal swell,
solutions positive can’t spin.
Greet each day’s play with heart unbound,
send spirits soaring, life’s then found
to know no horrors, aims unmet,
grief-laden, puffy lids tear wet.
Whet appetite ambitious, fresh,
with surge momentous, motives mesh
succeed seed, speed feed freed, not fret.
Life’s griefs on which most men agree,
will never, never fall on me,
to be beloved is all I need,
and whom I love, I love indeed.
I lose no sleep, solutions find
as wants with actions are combined
refreshed uniting thought and deed.
Author notes
robi3_1427_cole3_0013 PXX_MXX
Parody Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772_1834 cole3_0013 The Pains of Sleep
The Pains of Sleep
Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,
It hath not been my use to pray
With moving lips or bended knees;
But silently, by slow degrees,
My spirit I to Love compose,
In humble trust mine eyelids close,
With reverential resignation,
No wish conceived, no thought expressed,
Only a sense of supplication;
A sense o'er all my soul impressed
That I am weak, yet not unblessed,
Since in me, round me, every where
Eternal strength and wisdom are.
But yester-night I prayed aloud
In anguish and in agony,
Up-starting from the fiendish crowd
Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me:
A lurid light, a trampling throng,
Sense of intolerable wrong,
And whom I scorned, those only strong !
Thirst of revenge, the powerless will
Still baffled, and yet burning still !
Desire with loathing strangely mixed
On wild or hateful objects fixed.
Fantastic passions ! maddening brawl !
And shame and terror over all !
Deeds to be hid which were not hid,
Which all confused I could not know
Whether I suffered, or I did:
For all seemed guilt, remorse or woe,
My own or others still the same
Life-stifling fear, soul-stifling shame.
So two nights passed: the night's dismay
Saddened and stunned the coming day.
Sleep, the wide blessing, seemed to me
Distemper's worst calamity.
The third night, when my own loud scream
Had waked me from the fiendish dream,
O'ercome with sufferings strange and wild,
I wept as I had been a child;
And having thus by tears subdued
My anguish to a milder mood,
Such punishments, I said, were due
To natures deepliest stained with sin, -
For aye entempesting anew
The unfathomable hell within
The horror of their deeds to view,
To know and loathe, yet wish and do !
Such griefs with such men well agree,
But wherefore, wherefore fall on me ?
To be beloved is all I need,
And whom I love, I love indeed.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772_1834 cole3_0013_cole3_0000 PXX_MXX
A contest entry
- Zeal, Alacrity, Your Serenity by luckyv1303.
400 points, ended November 6, 11 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
-
You made me smile, as always!
I missed reading you! You demonstrative writer!
I never have any nightmares. My dreams are intriguing, spiritual and always part of my daily journey, in metaphor or in process to understand and know. I LOVE SLEEPING! I think I am a cat. 
Thank you for giving my morning a lazzzzzzzy stretch.
Love
Myra
-
Who would have thought so much inspiration could come from the briefest of moments. I like the way you delve deep into the mind for the idiosyncraticies that apply to individuals and the masses at the same time.
The clock of optimism ticks ... and long may it stay that way
-
Morning has broken !
"Rise & shine while others whine
and you my friend, will find in time
that life is found in what you say
and how you work and how you play~"
(by jy)
Okay, that's enough ... Your thoughts were finely selected and did justice to the original. I liked the way you turned it upside down and did so with clarity.
Bravo, j
y
-
serene it seems in sleep you find
a satisfied assured-self mind
devoid of demons doubts you dream
and soundless slip into sleep's stream
though thoughts on others fates unkind
compassion seemes a better theme
(I couldn't sleep) =)
-
"With defensive wants supressed" 'supressed' or suppressed'?
-
excellent
I love Coleridge, and I found this one true in tone and texture, and amusing. Nicely done. -
wow. that was awesome use of vocabulary...i loved how smooth everything rolled off my tongue as i read it. amazing. MY FAVORITE PART= "through strings slave puppet daren’t o’erthrow."
thnx for entering my contest! i have not yet judged and will wait so that i can see all the poems laid out before me to compare...so you never know!
-
-
Responsum
Zeal alacrity and serenity have been juxtaposed with Coleridge's poem The Pains of Sleep and role-reversed as a parody. Kindly note that the contest entry has been significantly rewritten this afternoon. Enjoy !
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 8 of 8
