Into the Light

One verse of the following written every ten years of my life, from 21 to 71. The last verse written two years ago. I doubt if I'll be around to write 81.

Here I am, twenty-one,

So many things have to be done,

Many’s the cause I’ll be fighting for

Keeping the vows that I’ve sworn before,

How many children blessing my way,

How much love can a lover sway,

How many words can I write and read

In the years ahead for my restless need,

Where am I headed, this fateful night…

             Out of the darkness

                  Into the light!

 

                     - II -

 

Here I am, thirty-one,

So many things still to be done;

Where are the causes? Fought and lost!

What of the vows? Tempest tossed!

Where are the children? Left behind!

What of the lovers? Love is blind!

How many words have you written and read?

Much too much for this aching head.

Where are you headed, this fateful night?

             Out of the darkness

                   Into the light!

 

                    - III -

 

Here I am, forty-one,

And all life seems like a dream undone.

Everything I would have taken for me

Has slipped from my grasp, forsaken me.

All my children are grown, but one

And wonder; ‘Where did this man come from?

What was the pact that he kept with me…’

While I have nothing to answer thee.

All my words as a mist, widespread

Have since dispersed from a source long dead.

Where am I headed, this fateful night?

           (Have you learned nothing….?)

                I guess you’re right!

 

                - IV -

 

Here I am, fifty-one,

The daylight fades and the muse has gone.

The loves I loved as my vision bled

All turned from me, and to them, I’m dead.

The rhyme was lost and the music died

As I turned to stone in my heart, inside.

Where is the youth that yearned to write

Through the endless days to the latest night?

Is this what happens, the years take flight " 

             Into the darkness

                 Out of the light.

 

                  - V -

 

Here I am, sixty-one,

I thought the end would have come and gone!

But then a light seemed to beckon me

To trip through another’s history.

When China called, I know not why

I saw new future’s I’d never tried,

The way was clear, my life was spent

So I fetched up in the Orient.

With all its bustle, its pomp, and pride,

I picked up the pen that I’d put aside,

For black-haired girls feed my heart’s content

And children like jewels are heaven sent;

Is this the future, I know it’s right....

Out of the darkness

      Into the light!

 

            - VI -

Here I am, seventy-one,

Life fled past me and now it’s done.

All of my loves, kissed me and fled,

I’m left alone in my empty bed,

And looking back on a life undone

It’s hard to find any heart I won.

I gave my love to the wishing tree,

The tender mistress of poetry,

She won’t desert me, for given time

She’ll still remain and they’ll call her mine,

And if there’s anything waits for me,

(The afterlife is a mystery),

I’ll seek my rest from the daily grind

Of aches and pains that are so unkind,

And you may find in the words I leave

Some comfort, knowing you’re not to grieve,

But seek me out when the time is right,

            Out of the darkness

                  Into the light!

David Lewis Paget

22 November 1975

16 June 1986

1995

26 December 2005

9 February 2017

Reviews

[Susan 🦋]

So many thoughts to ponder here...but seems as if life played out just the way it's suppose too...though living with no regrets always sounds so good..I"ve never meant anyone who doesn't have at least a few. Life is hard and challenging and can be down right confusing! I like this poetic journey you took..still unfinished.. :-) and thats the really good part...there is always hope :-) I truly enjoyed reading this piece of yours...has me pondering many questions of life and love.

[Elizabeth]

I have no other words but WOW

[song writer]

A realistic version of a song that is very popular about growing up and ageing.

[drcornelius]

Great approach for an autobiography. It is compelling; kept my interest. Lot's of unanswered questions but, I guess life is make up of unanswered questions. Thank you

[Chris Shaw]

A terrific poem, loved the read thank you. And long may your mistress poetry, continue to keep you company when everyone else has disappeared from your life. The rhyme and flow of your words, right up my street.

Chris

[Fish]

This is amazing how you pretty much wrote your entire life through poems and its like each poem reflects different points in your life, and its really powerful, it makes me feel like I'm able to live through your life and feel what you felt in these poems. really cool!

[emmajoy]

As always your metre is impeccable, you create history and then bring it to life and, certainly in thise post you make the reader feel.. .. very human. A nostagic, wandering and wondering piece of you.

[Helena]

This is a monumental poem indeed David. Reads like a journal, the words springing from a well of nostalgia and wistfulness. I adored each and every stanza. Very emotional to read and will be long etched on the reader's mind.

[Richard McLin]

The structure is fantastic. I loved the flow, wording, and build of this piece. It reads like small memoir, a beautiful collection of important memories. Great work.
-Richard