Sphinx Riddle

Star gazers swear it’s the

Movement of the heavens,

Conjunctions, aspects,

Planets and houses deciding

Whether a man falls or rises.

Lo, happiness floats above me

Like a cloud, easier seen

In solitude than in a crowd.

It’s there for a moment,

Real, it seems, but then I blink,

And wonder whether it’s been

All but fanciful dreams.

At times, inside my head,

There’s a gathering

To which I’m not invited.

I hear them shouting, arguing,

Cursing, and crying, but

It’s when they go quiet

That it all gets really terrifying.

The world becomes a riddle, empty

Save for one burning question in it:

What of dreams of happiness,

So innocent, so childlike?

All is silent under a vacant sky

As the Sphinx rears its head

Getting ready to strike.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

I love the fanciful & intelligent way you pose life's pondering as if it's bouncing around inside the narrator's head. The thing I love the most about being old is that I do not care about the how's and why's of anything, seeing such as gyrations of the obsessive human tendency to overthink (which I did a ton of, for years). I love reading this pondering, but just glad I'm not the one doing it (((HUGS)))

[Laz K.]

"gyrations of the obsessive human tendency to overthink"

That's a part of it for sure. It's a question of temperament whether one is given to much thinking and brooding, or not. I fall into the former category, and that's how I measure being alive: by things understood, or at least pondered, questioned.

Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts. It's always much appreciated! :)

[barleygirl]

I admire you greatly for your searching & questioning way of being.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

crawls on four, walks on two, then walks on three...
oh we can be so blind...but eventually we solve the riddle....but is the wisdom worth the journey
for where we end up?
such a thoughtful write...with a nice mix of Oedipus mixed in for good measure.
that sky does get vacant in the end...we are no longer under it.
j.