Poetry Bus Theme - Meetings.
This was a brilliant theme this week and so the old brain was working overtime trying to work out how I would use this best.
Then I came across a photograph in a book called 'Beyond the Moment - Irish Photojournalism in Our Time'. It was of a little girl sitting by a 'Lost Property' sign at a campaign run by the charity Bardandos (p103 for anyone that has it, and not the image to the left by the way).
Anyway, this gave me the final idea for the following poem which tries to explore the meeting of the adult and the child within.
Well whatever floats your boat as they say! I promise next week to be more light hearted, honestly I will!
Simple Silent Din
When you meet your inner child, what does he or she say about you?
Do you laugh together and remember times of joy?
Do you revisit days that posed large dark shadows,
when big people scared you, and he or she, were forced to hide.
When you meet your inner child, is he or she still familiar?
Do you think how far the two of you have come?
Does the child eyes that stare at you from some old photograph,
wonder wisely about the she or he, that adulthood has undone?
Can you reach inside your younger, living, old breathing self,
and rekindle, the his or her arresting spirit nonetheless?
The one that braved the madness they could never fully fathom,
running life so fast, the blinkin' craziness became a quest.
Can you hear the child as they shout right up at you?
To hold on to the dynamo that once you might have been.
To grab life despite it being basked in its own confusion,
winning out, as once he or she, believed they could.
Allow the prospect of another day, be just tomorrow,
to look and find the things waiting for you to see.
Remember beauty isn’t found within the pretty,
rather in the difference between you, he and she.
And knowing who it is that your younger child remembers,
like yesterday, earth stones buried deep within.
Waiting to be explored in the annals of your memory,
a forever resting place, for their simple silent din.
a forever resting place, for their simple silent din.
think I've seen that Barnados picture alright, an arresting and interesting subject to pick. Well done.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my 20s, I wrote a poem about meeting my child self but this is waaaayyyy better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Niamh and thanks again Argent for such a great theme. I wish I could stop changing it though, some poems just drive you a bit nuts trying to get them right!
ReplyDeleteRemember beauty isn’t found within the pretty,
ReplyDeleterather in the difference between you, he and she.
I especially loved this thought, with its suggestion you/he/she are one and the same.
Absolutely, but also I suppose the general theme of how being different is often considered a negative thing in our society, when it's the differences that make us who we are and the world a much more interesting place!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I hear my inner child, I give him a slap and tell him to go away. I feel I've betrayed him...
ReplyDeleteJust as well he's resilient so!
ReplyDeleteI loved the "earth stones buried deep within".
ReplyDeleteNice job with a complex subject.
Kat
Thanks Kat.
ReplyDeleteI would give that poem 119 socks out of 120.
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDelete