Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Life, o so bright and carefree
when nibbling sweets dainty
at mannered afternoon tea
sipped with persons fainty
But when living shallowly
our yearnings end up quenched
leaving us stuck callowly
From Life’s game we’ll be benched
There is simply no shelter
from Life’s worries & welter
Saving time only to see it squandered
on ‘easy come, easy go’ paths wandered?
Time rules in our enslaved existence
so we keep up the frantic fuss
traipsing the ‘path of least resistance’
and allowing it to own us
In ‘me first’ scuffles we collude
amidst unrelenting rush
Noses to multiple screens glued
Gush, much fuss. Not enough blush
So then why not let ‘mindful & slow’
rather than ’scurrying nonplussed’
prevail as the default way to go
chancing to let settle the dust?
Living at our own pace
let’s us wander with grace
Av regnig snö kysst
tyngs trädets veka kvist
slinter utan knyst
p.g.a. friktionsbrist
Innan kyligt sällskapande
vilar snöns mantel orörd
Innan skottande, skrapande
låg stillheten helt ostörd
Men trots att vackert utan måtta
måste vi otåliga skotta
Sun rays still Summer tinted
amidst boisterous breeze
We peer at, through eyes squinted
cartwheeling grounded leaves
Letting go, sailing from trees
leaves piling up wilted
as cushy carpets cerise
yellow & brown quilted
Leaves losing grip, bailing
Naked branches wailing
I do hear you, sure
but my ‘pastime’
silly, bit obscure
is quatrain rhyme
Perhaps corralled conceit
shuffling in dull dance?
Mere bleats from verse effete
in limping cadence?
Surely slight nuisance compared
to all that what you’ve been spared?
edited 07/14/24 0835
In universe, who knows ‘created’
most human lives cold & cruel
precarious while inundated
by predators’ gnash, growl & drool
Human character malicious
too many a morsel wrenched
in tempers raging flagitious
out from pale fists tightly clenched
We’re contused in careening
searching Life for traction
Agonizing for meaning
detoured by distraction
If Life’s a ‘circus’
strive to be its lions
who in poked percuss
still roar in defiance
By vicious whips cracked
as raw welts burn
odds cruelly stacked
Still breathe to yearn
But never lose hope
with courage, flair
try changing the scope
Stare down despair:
Straighten from our serfly stance
from talk in abstraction
Embrace your life as romance
with steadfast exaction!
Human Life’s but a fleeting dash
til it ends in merciless crash
Forlorn, dark wet branches
stretch into gray sky
As morning advances
voices drawing nigh:
Not another rainy day!
Declared in thoughtless haste
a jilted overcast day
that we’re resigned to waste?
Let’s find a deeper way of gleaning
each day for its purpose & meaning!
På Livets vickiga spång så smal
trängs vi fram till allas förfång
Svårt att se hur vi har annat val
tvingade av bittert nödtvång?
Högt ovan Dödens djupa forsar
kan vi oss bara förfasa
att i ögonblicket vi korsar
alltsammans ska plötsligt rasa
Tills dess i ovisshet våra liv snurrar
vare sej vi beklagar eller hurrar
Words coolly glitter
dashingly dance
observe them flitter
in pompous prance
Though off the wall
bouncingly banal
displaying gall
amongst their cabal
Disturbing distraction
when smoothly spouted
in make-belief traction
sense, meaning flouted
Haphazard words careen
noisily trenchant
in mangled phrases preen
as is their penchant
Phrases splashed
‘in’ words flashed
Grammar trashed
unabashed
All the while grasp gashed
facts, logic lashed
mushy meanings mashed
’same old’ rehashed
Words flow in overabundance
in hyperbolic redundance
When on sugar, dairy
meat & chicken fed
our stomachs turn wary
as our waistlines spread
Indulging food, fat & salty
in lifestyle sedentary
downing drinks distilled & malty:
Shortcuts to cemetery!
On the smooth wings of chocolate
we soar into sweetened space
but lightheaded in the cockpit
we’ll crash in nauseous a place
Cheese of ambrosial yellow
sliced so thickly & warm
while the milk cows do bellow
as their udders deform
We leave our conscience unheeded
of ‘dairy farming’ cruel
If not morally enfeebled
wouldn’t we rather slurp gruel?
+)
-gruel = here: how anyone ‘addicted’ to salt, sugar, dairy, meat & sweets would regard any dish lacking these ingredients