My Night of a Thousand Storms

Check out my you tube channel where I read my poetry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2RTVZcWtVM

The inner critic
protects me from
reality and success;
It knows best.
It reminds me of
my hopeless plight,
my dark destiny,
my night of a
thousand storms.

Councillors say,
"Examine those thoughts.
Challenge them, are
they rational? "
I nod and smile,
and somewhere there
is a sparrow in me
that wants to sing,
that agrees with
the blue skies, and
the trees, and the wings
that have carried it
away from the pain.

But then the critic
and its minions
chatter away, and
remind me of failures,
they say,
"The play has already been written.
You're just doing your part-
your small walk-on part.
You don't get to rewrite it.
It's been written, it's finished.
You being a writer must appreciate
irony, isn't it ironic;
Thomas, no matter
how bad you want it,
you can't have it.
It's been decided, it's predestined,
long before you were born.
You lose, some win, but not you."

I faintly hear the dying song
of the sparrow, as I rise once again
and stumble towards the abyss.

Author's Note

Check out my book, Seedy Town Blues on Amazon.com

Reviews

[Pete]

i tend to be a negative person. we're all guilty of it. it may sound cliche' but the victory is in trying. some of my best successes have come when i didn't think i stood a chance but chose not to listen to the voice and tried anyway. even if we don't win, we have the trying under our belt. telling write.

[Thomas W Case]

Absolutely. Thanks for reading and commenting.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we can rewrite poems, but not life...we live it and turn the pages...
there is a certain irony in that, isn't there?
This is something most of us think about...we just don't pen it...
You did that for us...thank you, Thomas.
j.

[Thomas W Case]

Thanks for reading and commenting.

[Ookpik]

I agree wholeheartedly with Pete below, Tom - even if the critic’s right (the skeptics, cynics & pessimists often are) I think there’s power in persisting anyway, rebelling against predetermination, if not on the off chance there’s more to the puzzle than our inner critics might decide, then at least to provide ourselves some choice amidst the whole ordeal.

Futile or not, autonomy, agency or the ability to choose is what defines us as human beings.

Stellar write, ‘ppreciate reading.

-Ook

[Thomas W Case]

Thanks for reading and commenting.

[Neville]

I have a thing about sparrows .. Cuban rainbow sparrows are amongst my faves .. they are like positively charged multi-coloured micro phoenixes .. guaranteed to raise a smile amongst those fallen .. Neville

[Thomas W Case]

I've never seen one. I am going to google them. Thanks, bro.

[Soren]

The inner critic is always the harshest and with little constructive remarks. Good write Thomas.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you for reading and commenting.