That Was Yesterday, Today is Now

You have arrived empty-handed

but the baggage you carry bears such weight

it hinders your freedom of movement

slumped shoulders, heavy head bobbing atop your neck

filled with tales of yesteryear taking all of your perseverance

to keep the balance.

One wrong word, one wrong movement,

will disrupt the precarious line you walk

and falling to the side the head will scrape the pavement

opening old wounds

bringing back all the inherited pain.

You to try and make sense of

this life, your life. Today. Now.

And as you rebalance your head, your mind,

and suture the broken skin,

to cross examine the pain inside

you wonder how it came to be, in this life

you carry the lives of those who went before you.

In the stories written and told

passed down the line,

held together with the strongest tie,

waist to ethereal waist,

with lead weight added

so you understand the enormity

of what came before,

it rests in your mind,

seeping down to your heart through silent tears

you carry it onward,

a balancing act so precarious

you feel like a spinning top in a whirly wind

never truly understanding

exactly where to land.

You wonder,

in this day an age,

what would it take,

how much money,

or lead, perhaps you could trade some lead,

to buy a clean sheet,

a life without the lineage,

of all, that's come before,

no weight, no burden,

no stories waiting to be told only to serve the purpose of

carrying more weight.

For if you could buy a clean sheet,

perfectly crisp and white,

waiting only for you to make your mark,

perhaps then you would understand

what it truly means to love,
you want to love, feel the infinite true expanse of it

like a warm blanket on a cold night

keeping all the stars equally heated

with no preconceived judgment.

Imagine, you think

one blanket

for everyone,

and on that crisp white sheet

a new story can begin.

Reviews

[Ardra]

what it truly means to love,
you want to love, feel the infinite true expanse of it

like a warm blanket on a cold night

keeping all the stars equally heated

with no preconceived judgment.



So true ...sometimes we do wish we could do things differently...if given one more chance... a white sheet to plan a brand new story and life ..to know we all are connected...beings of light... :) very nicely done ...thanks for sharing it with us..

[the one inside]

Imagery of white papers, where which one writes thoughts and emotions, just for it to disappear the next day. And there the pen can do nothing more than write something new.

A beautiful poem which transcends Time, Beauty and Love

[alanwgraham]

Great, KWP, you've described in a very poetic and eloquent way how many of us are burdened down by past mistakes and experiences. These seem impossible to escape from. The prospect of a clean sheet and a new start is enticing but is it possible?
Well done for this poem on the human condition.
Regards,
Alan

[KWP]

I like your hat - is that made of moss ?

Thanks also for your review ... of course it's possible ... hey man, anything's possible if we believe X

[pia]

wonderfully written poem and food for thought!!

[Einstein Noodle]

a wonderful thought my love ;) i think we would fight over that sheet in an instant :} ... i can't keep my little corner on me shoulders more than 10 minutes as it is pulled away .. but i sure do love my little Norma ;)))) i like the metaphor and theme and especially the repetition of the clean, crisp white sheet .. i am so reminded of salvation spoken of by Jesus .. the promise of forgiveness and new starting ..each and every day ..with the great love of God our Creator .. such promise eh!? and the weight of sins of our ancestors ... seems so unfair doesn't it!? why should it be on me?? but we are connected eh!? deeply and profoundly bound to one another in all ways ..pity that knowledge is so quickly and permanently lost in many :( oh your poem has my thoughts moving ever deeper my dear ..all things ...always connected ..never ending ...i do have a favorite line:
"to cross examine the pain inside" ..really like that one!
E.

[emmajoy]

What a glorious metaphorical flow of the Past, blank Paper, Life itself and Love! You've used such fine language to link the four- plus unseen - together and made my mind jump into another gear. Your sixth stanza has opened flood gates!

' .. perhaps you could trade some lead, ~ to buy a clean sheet, ~ a life without the lineage, ~ of all, that's come before, no weight, no burden,..'

Methinks there's be a need for another Creation or great explosion of life to reach that Emptiness.. in which case, how would one know what to erase?
Perhaps that stresses that, what has been done in the past should stand as a lesson to be read, learned, acted upon and carried into the Now. Not, not easy.

However, your writing draws the reader deeper and deeper into thought. Your phrasing is a soaring eagle, E... it frequently lures the mind to fly higher than.. .. this does.

[wordman]

this is a great story,it takes a look at the mind,your real self i guess