Philosophers

Cracking their knuckles
And taking it in their stride
Philosophers humble
In their clothes
Confrontational
In their thoughts
Meandering in Agora are
Questioning number five
Ascribed to toes 
The nose between the eyes
And wings of butterflies
Brushing white beards
Unplaiting grey braids
Of a modest afternoon tea
Crumbling under finger tips 
Like reefs under whirls and winds
Onto the ground being
A substantial portion of 
Years before Christ
They, demure but proud,
Clamber the step ladder 
To the metaphysical sky
Planting a frown
Between the thick brows
As they reflect on and about life


Philosophers
In long cotton robes
Sandal-shod or bare feet walk
Through a marketplace
In a blazing Greece
In a gentle ancient breeze
Playfully dashing 
Through stony streets
And mosaics twisting
Into symbolic values and deities
Lined by columns of libraries
Statues of capacities
Chiselling a marble metropolis
Enveloped by a semi-circle
Of a looming theatre
Around its mini centre
For gladiators fighting lions
For a performance of grave trials  
Enlivened by shouts 
Of rowdy spectators
Hushed by the Caesar's thumb
Building up a frisson of tension
Into an ultimate decision 
On a platform of a imperial charm

Servants or slaves 
As if it were a difference
Fan the stillness of air
With a palm tree branch 
For masters' eating grapevines 
Engulfed by Thales
And his water theses
Heraclitus from Ephesus
And their followers
Stretching their thoughts 
Beyond the Asia Minor's coast 
Refuting matter and gods
Bringing human being
To the forefront
The purpose 
The 'why'
And what is and what not
Quaking walls of the
21th century Uni corridors
Flipping ideas as coins
Generating books 
As articles of tapeworms
Yet 'we know nothing'
The wisest quote
Concluding it all
Into one succinct note

Reviews

[BlackPrince]

I LOVE THIS POEM.

'In a blazing Greece
in a gentle ancient breeze.'

I love how you put the above words together

It's like a travel through ancient time and back to the modern; it's like a historical inquest.
It's epic in its construction and full of meaning.

Philosophy is a subject much more closer to poets than many people realise.
We poets are natural philosophers because we are filled with questions about the deeper things of life and we love the beauty of creation; yet we refuse to mask anything in our inquisitive nature; we depict the beauty and ugliness of our Earth as we exist upon it. As poets there is a spirit of love, truth, wonder, harmony and justice compelling us to write, hoping that others see things the way we do, for we care for humanity.

Anyway, that's how I feel.

WELL DONE

[Kate]

Thank you BlackPrince. I sent this one to a magazine, and they wanted to publish it. Then they changed their mind and said it required changes, which I refused. So they chose a different poem. I guess that the idea of the poem is alright, but the structure of the poem needs adjusting. It was the last one I wrote and I already felt like losing my appetite for writing... that´s why it is not so good....

Thank you though for your lovely review. It always makes me happy when somebody likes my poetry.

[BlackPrince]

just keep doing what you do and believe in your ability as a poet.

[Kate]

Thank you ❤