From Then, Till Now

Two Stanza's, Twelve Poets: for a contest entry.

Came the Whisper, came the Vision, came the Power with the Need, Till the Soul that is not man's soul was lent us to lead,

You have a sister named Life, an opulent treacherous woman,

Under the arc of the sky they are unsafe,

My life is a fault at last, I fear:

Leave, leave it then, muse of my heart!

Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher,

There's music along the river,

A little life with dried tubers,

The moments that life, as it flies, gave for gladness,

And I have dream’d that the purpose and essence of the known life, the transient, is to form and decide identity for the unkown life, the permanent

If but one hero knew it, The world would blush in flame;

Because I love to live.

Author's Note

Rudyard Kipling, The Song of The Dead, 1893
Robinson Jeffers, To Death, Selected Poems, 1965
Dylan Thomas, There Was A Time, Selected Poems, 1934-1952
Robert Browning, Life In A Love, Selected Poems, 1942
Robert Louis Stevenson, Songs of Travel and Other Verses, 1896
William Wordsworth, The Tables Turned, 1798
James Joyce, Strings in the earth and air, from Chamber Music. London: Elkin Mathews, 1907
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Exchange, Faust, 1832
Walt Whitman: Leaves Of Grass, To Think Of Time, 1892
Maya Angelou, The Lesson, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, 1994

Reviews

[Elisa]

Such beautiful imagery woven together so well. Excellent, excellent poem! I really enjoyed it.

[modtoddinc]

I am humbled. Thank you for your time and kind words.

~peace, Todd

[Trace]

i have written like this in the past,
it is not an easy thing to do,
but you have done it well.

[modtoddinc]

Thank you Trace. I agree with you in that it wasn't easy... time consuming effort. You are kind.
read moreThank you Trace. I agree with you in that it wasn't easy... time consuming effort. You are kind.

~peace, Todd

[Abderrahmane Dakir]

Great poem, I like it.Thank you for sharing it.

[modtoddinc]

Thank you for taking the time to read and review.

~peace, Todd

[pepe le pew]

The first line is really good. I wonder if you're interested in anything under the umbrella of greed, power or money... I think it would have an impact if you wrote about that..

Best,
Jasmine

[modtoddinc]

Thank you, I will consider your comment. (Though I feel it must be said that I did not write any of the lines in this poem... it is a collage of other famous poets, or 'found' poem.)

~peace, Todd

[Helena]

Dear Todd,

Thank you again for gracing our contests with your flair and creativity. This one was no exception. A great 'collage' indeed.

Helena

[modtoddinc]

Thank you for your kind words and the visit, truly grateful.

~peace, Todd

[jacob erin-cilberto]

some exceptional insight in this well pieced together entry....

love Maya Angelou....

[modtoddinc]

Thank you kind Sir, I spent some time with this one and enjoyed every moment of the great poetry I read in searching out the nuggets for my poem... like needles in haystacks... I became tired and overwhelmed, but patience and perseverance paid off.

~peace, Todd

[ANTO]

Super impressive Todd. It must have taken quite a while and some effort to compile this one. I love how you slotted them together seamlessly - its a great concept and very well executed my friend.
I wish you well in the contest T.
:))

[modtoddinc]

Thank you Anto, yes there was time and patience in this one... a challenge that paid off with reading some great, great poetry. Thank you for taking the time to visit, read and comment.

~peace, Todd