The Allegory of the Cage (repost)

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JLHunter
Senior Member

since 2006-10-08

Posts 557
CA United States

0 posted 2007-03-08 05:30 AM

Hi, all.

This is a repost from another thread. I wanted to post this poem in here first, but I was led to believe that this was not the place for "sad" poetry. Of course, after I read a lot of the other poems, and then reached back into my fuzzy brain, I remembered that all types of poetry are posted in this forum. As such, if a moderator wants to delete the other post in "Dark Poetry #4," I would appreciate it, but please tell me if there is there a way to preserve or move the responses before deletion.

Thanks, John

The Allegory of the Cage

I have not written much of late;
I toil in my hamster wheel.
While ev'ry sage of ev'ry age
Will gape with wonder at my cage,
And speak in voices small and still
About my stilted, careworn gait.

Yet when I do find time to write,
I'll leave my cage, in mind alone.
But if I'm sad and terror-clad,
You'll know how deeply I've gone mad,
When slashing sinew, skin and bone
To cleave a thought on pages white.

Now writ with expurgated bile,
My caustic words are dark and spare.
I've filled the pages with my rages
Over others' self-made cages.
As they trudge without a care
And bear it all with practiced smile.

For, I know what they don't see;
Our hamster wheels are hooked to naught.
With blinded sight, and faces tight,
They churn and burn their wheels with might,
And not a lone, insightful thought
Will loose their bonds and set them free.

I cry out loud, an anguished howl,
Still knowing I will join back in.
Yet all the tears from lengths of years
While fleeing from our deepest fears,
Can never heal a single sin,
Nor soothe away a single scowl.

I have not written much but this,
My musings on a ghastly fate:
We turn our wheels and chase our heels
Forgetting how it truly feels
To live and die, to love and hate;
Our ignorance indeed is bliss.

So, in I go to man my post.
I coax my wheel back up to speed.
I'm better now. I know not how,
But sidle up beside my trough
And eat the slop I do not need,
Because I'm better off than most.

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires. -Khalil Gibran

Paul Wilson

Member Elite

since 2002-07-07

Posts 4711
United States

1 posted 2007-03-08 10:10 AM

JL...Amazing write...Paul

I cry out loud, an anguished howl,
Still knowing I will join back in.
Yet all the tears from lengths of years
While fleeing from our deepest fears,
Can never heal a single sin,
Nor soothe away a single scowl.

Great lines and thoughts

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

JLHunter
Senior Member

since 2006-10-08

Posts 557
CA United States

2 posted 2007-03-08 12:14 PM

Thanks, Paul.

This write came from a place deep within. And although it seems fanciful in its imagery, it is nonetheless somewhat accurate in its appraisal of how I view my life at this moment.

Suffice it to say that I have had a few brushes with mortality as of late, yet I am not ready to contemplate my, or any other person's, fate at this time. Therefore, a catharsis was in order. Happily, it did help a bit to purge my soul.

John

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires. -Khalil Gibran

The Lady
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-12-26

Posts 7634
The Southwest

3 posted 2007-03-08 09:15 PM

"We turn our wheels and chase our heels
Forgetting how it truly feels
To live and die, to love and hate;
Our ignorance indeed is bliss."

so well done

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

4 posted 2007-03-08 10:09 PM

I cry out loud, an anguished howl,
Still knowing I will join back in.
Yet all the tears from lengths of years
While fleeing from our deepest fears,
Can never heal a single sin,
Nor soothe away a single scowl.

~*~

The point being, you've not given up,
nor given in. Well done...on all points
and poetry.

JLHunter
Senior Member

since 2006-10-08

Posts 557
CA United States

5 posted 2007-03-08 10:33 PM

Hi, TL.

Thanks forv the kind words...

John

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires. -Khalil Gibran

JLHunter
Senior Member

since 2006-10-08

Posts 557
CA United States

6 posted 2007-03-08 10:38 PM

Thanks, Sunshine.

And, no, I haven't yet given up. This poem, being somewhat autobiographical, is a distinct reflection of some of my darker moods. I rarely get "down," but when I do it is usually over the stress and privation to which I voluntarily subject myself. ...But I never give up.

John

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires. -Khalil Gibran

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