Some old stuff rediscovered

I recently went through the poetry I've written over the last few years and found quite a few that for one reason or another I hadn't published, or even shared with anyone. Reading through them readily explained why some of them had not made a public page. Early efforts that simply served as a learning experience for the writer.

One or two of them are, I think, not too bad, and are either salvageable or perhaps even publishable. I'll put a few of them up here over the next few weeks. I'd love to know what people think of them.

This is the first. I don't have a clear recollection of what place I was in when I wrote it but I'm glad I'm not in that place now. Nonetheless, I actually quite like it...

Awakening

The dark tides converge

Closing in, I’m welcoming

The coming embrace

Enrapt in numbing darkness

The solace of not caring

The darkness softly

Embraces, seducing me

Alluring gently

The solace of not caring

A death, no life, a comfort?

Cocooned in the dark

Life seeps away so slowly

Deep inside I cry

A death, no life, a comfort?

I think rather this is hell

A cry awakens

A sliver of soul buried

In darkness. Struggle begins

I think rather this is hell

Am I truly so empty?

No longer seduced

Beginning to see the light

A journey starting

Am I truly so empty?

Perhaps no longer, perhaps…

A melody in light and dark

I wanted to say something about the difference between the potential of what we have and the possible reality of where we're going. The contrast between light and dark seems very stark these days and life often looks as if all we have is a light at the end of the tunnel.

A melody of love and wonder woven through the hearts,
Through all the dreams and yearnings of the people taking part
A gift to all on which we stand so beautiful to see
A planet rich and green with life, a wondrous place to be

Despoiled with hate and war and strife the fabric of the world
Is rent and ruined, we see this place as swine instead of pearl
Does such a blindness surely mean we have to take a road
To hell with just a hoped return before we grow too old

The dreams our grasping fingers reach toward are barren gold
The lustrous sheen deludes our minds we cannot see the cold
With no more meaning than a children's playtime fantasy
For such as this we sacrifice our future chance to be

Where to from here as always is the question we should ask
It's ne'er too late to make amends no matter what the task
The healing of world begins with not a giant leap
Rather hand in hand we make some promises we keep

A leaf

I thought I'd try something a little different. I've wanted for a while to be able to write on a more regular basis and decided to look at the process from another perspective. A friend suggested recently that I think about combining more than one art form. This an attempt to do that.

Closing my eyes in a warm quiet room I let my mind wander to see where it would lead me. After a few minutes I remembered a photo I had taken recently of a leaf. I followed the thought and this is where it would lead me... 

I can feel the stir of life begin

Emerging with a gentle urgency  

A crisp, clean spring awaits

My first tentative, tender reach

Uplifted by the golden, warming sun

The urgency now strong, driven

Into spring into life

At last bursting green and verdant
  

The raindrops for upon me

Quenching, filling, giving

To me, my work increases

A channel for life and growth

Time passes... day by day

Slowing, tiring, toiling

The days are growing longer

One by one. I feel it coming

A chill touch heralds the coming end

A willing sacrifice I need to make

To help the greater life

To live, to grow, to prosper

Darkness all around is all

I see and feel now

The welcome end is nigh

A final sigh, I give my last, 

I am no more, an empty husk

The merest breath of wind

Enough to breach the bond

Of leaf to tree, I am no more

In my final sacrifice I gave

What little life I had to give

That once again the cycle might

Turn to life in spring once more

Self & Doubt...

A few thoughts on during a lunch break on a sunny Friday afternoon.

A question arises in my mind

A thought to ponder, time to time

Of who I am both now and then?

Is a thought beyond my ken?

I stand afraid amongst my peers

And try in vain to calm my fears

That here revealed for all to see

Is the one I've come to be

Does everyone this curse affect

As always we seek to confect

An image that we’ll safely feel

Can our inner self conceal

Do anyone ever truly show

And can we ever really know

What it means no more to hide

The self that’s living deep inside

Perhaps to ponder overlong

On such as this is always wrong

With crises ever looming nigh

When all that’s done is think of “I”

For doubts will always grow apace

And ne’er we’ll know a moment’s grace

Til we outwardly we gaze and give

To others, then, at last, we’ll live

A life that brings us joy and finds

Friends and neighbours of all kinds

A life that means so much to all

No more to self in bond and thrall

Decisions

I've wanted to try writing poetry that was a little more structured and perhaps a little more traditional. I'm not sure how it came out though :)

I was thinking about life and where it leads us, and how we get there. How much impact the little decisions we make each day can have on ourselves and those around us. It seems to me that in some way every moment of every day is an opportunity to make a decision. To go forward from that moment in any number of different ways. Whether things are going badly or well, no matter how wonderful or how restricted or even oppressed we are, or perhaps feel we are, there is always an opportunity to decide. Even if it's simply to strive to a little more tranquility of spirit. Do we accept a hard road that in our hearts we know is right with radiant acquiescence? Do we fight for what we believe in? Do we do nothing? 

One of the uncomfortable conundrums is that not deciding is also perhaps a decision, but one where we relinquish control to others, or maybe to random chance...

Decisions...

Does every step to a crossroads lead,
To endless potential that waits to be freed?
Does each new tread upon the ground
Start paths unnumbered and yet to be found?

The paths ahead in the distance wend
The agony of choice the heart does rend
“Don’t make me choose” the soul bemoans
“I cannot decide. Too many unknowns”

It matters not ere the instant is here
The direction, the choice can never be clear
Free will, desire, it’s ours to choose,
We’ll always have all and nothing to lose

As life flows on we have to decide
Whatever transpires we take in our stride
The moment is now the time tis here
Decision made with heart sincere

A new path before us endless doth reach
To heart, to soul new wisdom to teach
What’s gone before is gone… no more…
The new path our spirit doth beckon to soar

7am... Monday

Walking out the door

Above I see the last remnant of sunrise

Gently staining the clouds

A broken fluffy blanket

Strewn loosely overhead

Down the steps again

The car awaits, the day begins

The weekend just a memory

The week ahead, ideas

Potential and promise

Driving in silence

Through the not quite sparse traffic

An old familiar routine

The mind wanders, lulled

By the easy repetition

Into the office

Coffee, a ritual oft repeated

A tabletop reflection

The glass gives a glimpse

The trees outside

The morning brightens

In this most mundane of moments

With a happy realisation

That even here and now

Life is beautiful