Mere Milliseconds

Funny how the fabric of ones life
can be torn so swiftly
with the turning of a moment;
the ticking of mere milliseconds,
a breath inhaled full of peace
and exhaled as the song of anguish.

I have known contentment
long enough now for it to become familiar
and I, tho ever grateful, am complacent too,
enough to be caught off guard for sure.

There was nothing out of place
in my ordered world of daily love and duty.
The sun rose and set at its dependable times
on my little corner in a cocoon of paradise,
wandering through the mystery with
 my ear tuned to earth and sky.

But the sun is fleeting
and how quickly we can be plunged
into the bowels of darkness, a sightless nomad
digging once again for shadowed seeds of sight and understanding.

And the night is fleeting too, of course,
ever followed by the light
and pain has a way of pushing itself through the dirt and dung
to become the blooms of a new day.

Its just the swift and sudden, savage way
that always catches me unprepared,
falling from light to dark
tumbling through the murky gray
trying desperately to right myself and find my way.

Reviews

[Sam Freeland]

Your appreciation of time and place is immense in just a few poetic words.
This is the kind of achievement we all seek and hope to find as you have
mastered here. Your mentors would be happy to say even more to you, were
they still here. I have done my best to honor your heartfelt poem. We
should be listed as friends, if only for my desire to see more of your work. sam

[J. Hampton]

and how quickly we can be plunged
"into the bowels of darkness, a sightless nomad
digging once again for shadowed seeds of sight and understanding.

And the night is fleeting too, of course,
ever followed by the light
and pain has a way of pushing itself through the dirt and dung
to become the blooms of a new day."

~ " Sightless nomad " ...luv that !!!

This is wonderfully orchestrated ...the recycling ...and re- focusing of hope decided
riding the waves of sudden ups n' downs

love the feel of it..
~ j sent this

Blesssssssssssssss

[Toni Prehoda Kahler]

You have put into verse what I have sensed and experienced enough to recognize it instantly. I am caught and held fast by this image:

"A breath inhaled full of peace
and exhaled as the song of anguish"

And you take me through the "ordered world" to the descent, and to the powerful image of "...a sightless nomad/digging once again for shadowed seeds of sight and understanding." And on I journey with you, glad as hell that you glide me through that night toward day (HOPE). Your last stanza reminds me of a battle scene, and I understand it from my gut....

[Antonionioni]

Your poems are so strong in feeling, image and physicality, one way or the other. You have a considerable talent for bringing your subject to three-dimensional life (within the reader's imagination, of course!)

[Fabian G. Franklin]

It has truth, sincerity and a sad and longing hope to it. Just beautiful. My greatest compliments to the author.

[J]

You write such truth here. So... pulsating and... oh, I have no words to describe how much this echoes with me.

Craft and passion and wisdom and sleepless nights...

[Poetic Injustice]

Agreed with Rhea. Well done. Heartfelt. Thank you.

[RHEA CROSLEY]

This is a masterpiece of form and flow. Great write with wonderful wording in an insightful tumble of ideas.