I've often said that I can't rhyme worth a dime ... but here I go again.
I keep trying. For me it's something like trying to leap over a high picket fence ... uphill ... and on a slippery slope, at that. I have trouble maintaining any kind of a rhyme scheme while trying to tell a story ... if, indeed, I have a story to tell.
I keep promising that I won't, but I do ... keep trying, that is. It's simply the challenge, I guess.
The result? Today's poem ... a double-edged blunt blade, if you will ... a poem about the difficulty ... at least the difficulty I have ... with keeping promises, especially to myself ... a poem in rhyme.
And I can't promise you that it won't happen again.
I keep being drawn back to this difficult task. I keep thinking that this time it will go well and I'll end up with something I can share with others. But it seldom does.
Today's illustration, I suppose, speaks to promises unkept ... I prefer to think of them as promises I will keep ... just as soon as I can get around to them. Actually, it represents things I should've done yesterday ... must do today ... but probably will still be working on tomorrow.
Ah, tomorrow ...
Meanwhile, today ... and the poem:
PROMISES
I begin my year
With high resolve,
But my plans, I fear,
Start to dissolve
As the new wears off
The leaf I've turned
And the flames flare off
Bridges I've burned.
©
1996(originally published in Mature Living)
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Today's word:
rhymeAfterthoughts ... in response to your comments:
I like your approach, Helen ... having your class write resolutions ... then put them away. I imagine some were surprised later that they had met, or maybe exceeded, goals they had set for themselves. I think that's better than bugging yourself repeatedly about goals you "haven't quite met ... yet." Your comment about tidiness reminds me of a co-worker ... long, long ago ... whose desk was a real mess ... even more than mine; however, Jack could almost always ... instantly, it seemed ... reach into the stacks and pull out precisely the document or publication he needed to make his point. I certainly envied that ability. I still do.
2 comments:
This was intriguing enough that I hardly noticed the rhyme that you worked so hard to fit in the puzzle pieces. I'm sure we've all done exactly what you wrote about. I had my class write their resolutions at the beginning of the year and put them in an envelope...seal it and put it in my desk. I'd give it back at the end and see if they felt they did them. Since they'd completely forgotten that they'd written them, or what they wrote--once sealed, I'm not sure they were as valuable as I hoped. I should have left them in their desk for them to look at, at least once a week. I know mine aren't accomplished...someday, maybe I'll do the most important one...get organized. I have, except for this "office"...it still looks the same, but periodically, I look through it and see what can be tossed out. To no one else's belief, I could find anything at any time...within a short time. Thanks for the poem. It took reading it several times before I was sure what the last line meant, then the light bulb turned on.
In addition to your commentary and poetry, I love your sense of humor :)
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