WOW! This feels like the kind of reminiscing one might do as we walk thru a graveyard & reflect on the barest of details available, trying to guess what kind of person lies beneath & what kind of life they might've lived. I think it's very relatable & straight out of human nature to ponder these things. It's too bad we don't spend more time on such pondering while people are still alive & might enjoy spinning a yarn with us to flesh out the basic details from a gravestone. Such thoughts of mortality are hitting us all as we live thru a time of abundant mass casualties worldwide. It can be numbing, but your poem reminds us to honor each life lost . . . *sigh!* (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie
Posted 6 Years Ago
2 of 2 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks for your wise comments. I have been to several funerals in the last few weeks and these alway.. read moreThanks for your wise comments. I have been to several funerals in the last few weeks and these always give you pause for thought. Also I suppose because I've had some ongoing health problems this year(neither of them too serious) you begin to realise your own mortality. I hope you are keeping well yourself.
Regards, Alan
Existence is such a brilliantly painful thing to wrap one's head around. We are bound so tightly to our concept of self, and to our physical form, yet are remembered as the sum of our actions, inactions; relationships, lost connections; all perceived by those witnesses around us.
I'm sorry to hear of your losses, and also of how you've come to contemplate your own mortality - I hope it bears some comfort to know that the written word is a tool of self immortalisation, to help oneself and our beloved recollect how and what we truly are.
-excellent piece
Posted 5 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
5 Years Ago
Thanks AL for your thoughtful and perceptive review. I'm pleased to say that this didn't come from a.. read moreThanks AL for your thoughtful and perceptive review. I'm pleased to say that this didn't come from any close personal loss but I know that losing is part of living and we should be prepared while living life to the full. I hope that you are embracing life yourself.
Regards.
Alan
A deeply philosophical subject, the meaning of our existence. Your poem works really well, and raises interesting questions. As well as enduring 'in the memories of others', and' in what we create in words, in images and artefacts', I like to believe that out thoughts, feelings, ideas etc. also endure out there in the 'great universal consciousness'!
Posted 6 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks Astri for reading and your kind review. It does us no harm to think about our mortality from .. read moreThanks Astri for reading and your kind review. It does us no harm to think about our mortality from time to time. I'm interested in the idea of the great universal consciousness but I'm not certain that it is meaningful outside of the memories of others. I suppose today that our digital footprint must be part of the picture!
Cheers,
Alan
Oh, you used that rude word .. digital! It only has two digits, and I can't get my mind round it!!! .. read moreOh, you used that rude word .. digital! It only has two digits, and I can't get my mind round it!!! I have to confess that I have a dislike of anything digital. Which doesn't leave much! (I have a love/hate relationship with my computer!)
Have you read Jung? He had the idea of the Universal Unconscious. It I not a very 'scientific' theory at the moment. But who knows what new scientific ideas may be in the future. Many believe in the Ghia concept , that the World is a living entity. There may well be a World consciousness that we all share in.
6 Years Ago
I read Jungs theories ages ago when I was a student and the idea of a collective unconscious sounde.. read moreI read Jungs theories ages ago when I was a student and the idea of a collective unconscious sounded plausible. I'm not so sure now , perhaps I've gained some personal insight through my 20 year periodic brush with bipolar mania when I've certainly got to know my subconscious. It has certainly been a big inspiration in my writing. I'm also a believer in the Ghia idea and that has also been a source of inspiration for me although I would interpret the earth as behaving 'like' a living being.
Regards,
Alan
There comes a time in all our lives
When we must take a look
At what we're leaving in our wake
And what it really took
to leave the world a better place
for having seen our tread.
And know that we've not left disgrace
or something else to dread.
The glimpse at writing that we do
when walking past a tomb
can give us but the barest clue
for what we should make room
Perhaps that lost one 'neath the ground
could tell us all we need
to bring our next great novel 'round
and finish it with speed.
Posted 6 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Your poetic reply is superb. It is a great take on how the demise of others may motivate our own eff.. read moreYour poetic reply is superb. It is a great take on how the demise of others may motivate our own efforts -but as for that novel -maybe tomorrow!
Thanks again,
Alan
I read your introduction and not that you, like me, have considered falling into the 'I'm gonna writ.. read moreI read your introduction and not that you, like me, have considered falling into the 'I'm gonna write a novel' trap. It's a lot of fun and give one an excuse to look at things in more depth than you'd ever imagine.
I once started a novel with the notion that I'd finish it in a few months. It was twenty-two years before I forced myself to write 'The End.' Strange how characters don't want to give up, once they get up to speed.
6 Years Ago
Once I started my book I wrote most of it in 4 months, took another year's to finish it. The sequel .. read moreOnce I started my book I wrote most of it in 4 months, took another year's to finish it. The sequel has been resting at 10000 words for 5 year's - I discovered short story writing!
Cheers, Alan
6 Years Ago
I couldn't stop writing even after I passed the logical quitting place. I blamed it on not the infam.. read moreI couldn't stop writing even after I passed the logical quitting place. I blamed it on not the infamous outline. Finally, I just forced the ending and then stopped at 260000 words. That brought me to to the weeding stage where chopped out 40000. That was the toughest part, even though most of it was just wordiness, repetition and blather.
Just discovered this recent piece of yours. Absolutely heart-wrenching. I have no words. A hauntingly beautiful, touching poem. Incredible.
Great work.
- G.W.
Posted 6 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks for your very kind words. I suppose we just have to get on with life and do our best while w.. read moreThanks for your very kind words. I suppose we just have to get on with life and do our best while we are here.
Regards. Alan
what legacy will we leave behind? how are lives measured? the people & things we effected? lives we touched? well done & thought provoking.
Posted 6 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks Pete. I have been at several funerals recently and they do focus your thoughts!
Regard.. read moreThanks Pete. I have been at several funerals recently and they do focus your thoughts!
Regards, alan
This excellent poem speaks in ways and words that I fully embrace. I'm also one who walks the stone gardens and thinks in similar ways.
Posted 6 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks Samuel. I haven't heard the term stone gardens before but very emotive. We know what's coming.. read moreThanks Samuel. I haven't heard the term stone gardens before but very emotive. We know what's coming but let's enjoy what's left.
In Scots we say 'lang may yer lum reek'. If i tell you what predictive text said for that you might die laughing!
Cheers. Alan
WOW! This feels like the kind of reminiscing one might do as we walk thru a graveyard & reflect on the barest of details available, trying to guess what kind of person lies beneath & what kind of life they might've lived. I think it's very relatable & straight out of human nature to ponder these things. It's too bad we don't spend more time on such pondering while people are still alive & might enjoy spinning a yarn with us to flesh out the basic details from a gravestone. Such thoughts of mortality are hitting us all as we live thru a time of abundant mass casualties worldwide. It can be numbing, but your poem reminds us to honor each life lost . . . *sigh!* (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie
Posted 6 Years Ago
2 of 2 people found this review constructive.
6 Years Ago
Thanks for your wise comments. I have been to several funerals in the last few weeks and these alway.. read moreThanks for your wise comments. I have been to several funerals in the last few weeks and these always give you pause for thought. Also I suppose because I've had some ongoing health problems this year(neither of them too serious) you begin to realise your own mortality. I hope you are keeping well yourself.
Regards, Alan
You cast a warm and radiant light upon an otherwise ‘stone-cold’ subject (pardon pun please). You eloquently and contemplatively ask the critical question- ‘ What is the sum of a man’s life?’...and answer with a poetic soliloquy on the many noble ways a man’s memory endures. Uplifting, inspiring, heart-felt, stunning. Deeply moving write. Bravo my friend.
Married with three kids, I retired early from teaching physics but have always enjoyed mountains. In my forties I experienced a manic episode which kick-started a creative urge. I've written a novel .. more..