Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Planet worn, poisoned, overheated
strife & wars endlessly rumble
The most vulnerable maltreated
while those ‘well to do’ just fumble
Though not much time shall remain
on my own life’s pathway
I keep struggling to sustain
‘peace of mind’ through the day
We must alter our mindless stance
if our Species shall stand a chance
Life’s narrowing path now turns steeper
our strides shorter on feet colder
Glimpsing the shadow of The Reaper
we turn, in vain, the cold shoulder
Our breath wheezing & shallow
gotten deaf to light sounds
Ages since we were callow
though still may act like clowns
While as our ego-driven selves fade
we’re freed up from the urge to persuade
When young he hid out in the shadows of life
only in shallowest waters he’d wade
Reluctant to engage Life’s beauty & strife
rarely testing whether would make the grade
Pedaled quietly head down
flaunted Life’s ‘how & why’
with a ‘look am busy!’ frown
hoping just to glide by …
His Earthly Welcome now overstayed
turned old, cold, bowed, slowed, frayed & staid
His entrails twisted by ‘regret’s blade’
The ‘grave digger’ fingers his spade
A geezer mildly fearful of Hades
long time now since in his modest heydays
With aging it may prove opportune
willingly to depart the stage
with dignity to face our ‘high noon’
turn the age appropriate page?
Better renounce the charade
before boos & whistle
All performances shall fade
fidgety crowds bristle
Rather leaving still carried by cheers
spared humiliation, crying
if having been thrown out on our ears
midst rotten tomatoes flying
Step aside, pointless to feign
time to bring out the champagne!
+)
-high noon = here: facing something unavoidable if we aspire to some measure of courage & integrity; title of 1952 film
When young I truly had no inkling
that I was but incipient
My alarm bell was never tinkling
while acted out my idiot
Traits that might disenchant
were so far constrained
My inner sycophant
kept grinning harebrained
Pathetic but hadn’t been in a rush
to question much my attitude
Middle age laid bare with horrid blush
my erstwhile lack of rectitude
Seems still that part of my essence
might consist of channeling
in blabbering omnipresence
my hapless inner changeling
It ain’t what I would like to see
or not who I prefer to be
although afraid it’s somehow me
from whom I’m unable to flee
He hid out in life
fearful of all strife
Engrossed amply, had a ball
dinked around without clues
lead no worthwhile life at all
thought Life here to amuse
Then rosy hued vigor drained
he veered off course, pace dropped
a purpose no longer feigned
Pretense gone. Thank God, flopped
Then bestowed a second chance
to pull his weight, not just prance
While short time now remaining
got all time presently
(in real-time, without feigning)
to listen pleasantly
While I was listening
to understand too harebrained
my heart wasn’t enlisting
back when ample time remained
Could only have playacted
as feeling compassion
when so blithely distracted
not the youthful fashion
I’ve been clueless of a lot
but right now my ear you got
Amidst glistening trees in morning mist
we’re feeling charged by auspicious jolt
as raises curtain on a new day kissed
but then to ruckus routine we bolt
Sadly short of heart, courage & mettle
jostled toward bodily demise
for ’security’ we strive to settle
but unattainable, so unwise
Days drafting days in life’s waning years
A few cheers, then we’re out on our ears
My aging body aches & creaks
as does Creation, what’s new?
Feeble eyes catch but blurry peeks
Soon I’ll be out of here, phew!
What if my body is but mere glove
of That Eternal Self High Above?
When twenty with insolent surety
did he dance on impunity’s floor
At forty untouched by maturity
At eighty wondering: What’s in store?
Rigidity gels primmer
Slender skills keep slimming
Gruesome prospects grow grimmer
Short term recall dimming
His a portrait that rankles
clownish in aging’s rust
Slogging up to the ankles
in Life’s circus sawdust
While squandering social security
in self-obfuscating obscurity