for Hedgewitch's prompt at dVerse :
to use repeated lines to underline the point of a poem.
***** ***** ***** *****
Nostalgia is the landscape of the old,
the populace of weathered hearts,
whose eyes easily tear,
whose distant looks remember
times of silver, times of gold;
nostalgia is the landscape of the old.
It's hard to live a life without regret:
with hard-won wisdom wishing
we could do it all again,
but better, smarter, wiser.
We know we cant, and yet,
it's hard to live a life without regret.
The old look back more often than ahead.
The road back longer,
rich in memory;
the road before one short,
with a finite point we dread.
The old look back more often than ahead.
Those golden times, they shine
with such a glow,
yet more often it's our failings,
all that then we did not know,
that we think of most, with rue.
But even so,
those golden times, they shine with such a glow.
The winding road from birth to death is long.
We got here faster
than we ever dreamed,
and time is speeding up its pace,
rushing us, it seems.
The winding road from birth to death is long.
Remembering our lives down all the years,
keeps emotion stirred,
us on the brink of tears,
for all now gone, no more to ever be,
those shining, golden lives
down all the shambling years.
We can grieve the passing of the years... or chose to celebrate all night long... or an early bed time. You said it well. Today, just for me, I am not in the mood to repeat, repeat, repeat... but on other days I do!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully done, my friend.
ReplyDeleteI hope my Twist post didn't put you into Memory Lane mode, but I know it did me.
However, I have chosen to be grateful for the people and things that got me through the rough times, to be glad I have lived twice as long as I ever expected.
This doesn't mean I'm endlessly cheerful, because pain still hurts and so do disappointments, but, when I look back, I try to have no regrets.
When our parents died, we four decided we had no regrets about the unconventional life Mom and Dad lived, and we know they also had none.
But to get back to the point at hand, which is your poem, I think it's wonderful and I understand it oh so well. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
My friend, this is so very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWell written, Sherry. But I think that older people DO look ahead. However, they look ahead days, weeks, months, a year or two. They don't look decades ahead as the 'young' (however it is defined) do.
ReplyDeleteDear Sherry,
ReplyDeleteThis is simply beautiful. You have captured what I am beginning to realize with my own life and my constant 'looking back'.
It does indeed pass oh so quickly. Therefore, enjoying and living for every day, must be 'the way to go'.
Hope all is good Sherry.
Best wishes, Eileen :)
Love this one, Sherry. You effectively use the repeating device for emphasis and lead the reader through an understanding of the perspective of the old. Really well constructed, as well as a precious read.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Sherry, and a wee bit painful, in that banging your head against reality sort of way. So many who read this will have no idea what this reality is like, just as they probably don't yet realize that, inside, behind the gray hair and wrinkles, we see the same thing they do when we look in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, effective use of repitition... I especially like the first two stanzas.
ReplyDeleteYou are at your element, Koko. This is a piece you could take to a bank. And the repetition is just lovely.
ReplyDeleteI say there is strength in numbers. Mine is 56. My voice grows each day, stronger more potent and as clear as a bell. "I yam what I yam" - jrg
ReplyDeleteLove your poem Sherry.