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Open Poetry #49
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Michael
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Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California

0 posted 2015-03-29 06:09 PM



Warriors


Sometimes life betrays you in the worst of all thought ways,
The invulnerability of youth turned into counted days.
For all fear death if having time to give it due reflection,
But what of those who must witness daily its slow progression?

It changes you—the things you see—things you appreciate.
Things once you might have left to chance, now a challenge to fate!
Yeah, some may roll over and die, and yet some become stronger.
The trivial facets of life holding them back no longer.

You see it settling on the eyes, a temperance abounding.
In the whirlpool they’re thrown into, the soft aura surrounding.
A wash of peace, and purpose too, in the knowledge been given.
To make the most of each second—the point by which they’re driven.

To stand and face the world each day, knowing the final score.
With scales removed from the eyes, the aspects they implore!
Strengths they exude, while those about them wither in denial.
Waking to greet each morning sun with an unstoppable smile.

Yes, life can be a precious thing, though most will never see it
Till it’s too late and all left is a stranger to decree it.
Yet some will dare to celebrate this life while they’re living it,
Knowing it’s not what life’s giving you, but what you are giving it.


Michael Anderson

3/29/2015

© Copyright 2015 Michael Anderson - All Rights Reserved
jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
1 posted 2015-03-29 10:22 PM


Particularly in reference to your last two lines, which, of course, are a summation of the whole . . .

With the giving is the reception and I don't believe you can have one without the other. And one can only receive what one gives.

I cherish life.  Yes, for what it gives me - which is, all in all, a wonder, and I try to give life, the same, in kind, which to me makes it a whole.

Enjoyed the read.

j.

latearrival
Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499
Florida
2 posted 2015-03-30 01:26 AM


Very good thoughts.I agre with Jwesley, Jo
Michael
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since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
3 posted 2015-03-30 01:46 PM


Jimmy, I love the way you took the poem, and your response to it.  I personally have not witnessed that kind of appreciation for life and one's approach to it on an everyday basis in my life... and certainly never have felt it within myself.  

I thank you, and I thank you too, Jo, for the replies.

To be clear though, the "what life's giving you" I am referring to happens to be cancer in a person in her 30's... a mother of 4 who will not live to see her children fully grown.  She came to me and asked me to write a poem for her to present to her children, so that when they were grown they may be able to appreciate the love she feels for them right now when they are still too young to grasp what is happening, and so they had some way to remember something about her other than a picture.  (No, this is not that poem).

She had with her in writing, moments where she was proud of her children that they may not have known,  moments where she was just moved to tears or hugging by something they did... and an admission of her own faults where she fears she has let them down in some manner.  She had specific examples for each of her children.  I cried my eyes out in reading all she had written.  I doubt any poem I could come up with will ever do justice to what she came up with herself in hoping I would write that poem for her.

I have spoken with her frequently since, and have watched the way she approaches her life... the cherishing of every moment, the little things that would eat me alive that she lets slide because in the overall picture, they mean not a thing.  In my eyes, she is a warrior.  My father passed away from cancer, and while he fought it to the best of his ability, I believe it was more of a passive acceptance.  He never really "lived" after finding out.

This poem was meant to show the contrast between the two of them, and just how much some of us who do not face a terminal illness could learn from some that do.


Michael

Rex Allen McCoy
Member Elite
since 2000-01-30
Posts 2863
Sippin a Timmy's in London
4 posted 2015-03-30 08:47 PM


I've watched so many go like this, including a friend in his 30s... there's not really any way to put in words, the depth of the thoughts and feelings I still embrace.
Michael
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Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
5 posted 2015-04-01 05:49 PM


Thank you, Rex.  I know just what you are saying.  Nothing in my life has ever left me grasping for words like this.  

Michael

suthern
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Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
6 posted 2015-04-17 12:54 PM


I loved this before I read your explanation - and love it more knowing the inspiration.
Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
7 posted 2015-04-18 03:38 PM


Thank you all for the kind replies.

Michael

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