How can you kill what cannot be killed?
Why weep for those who have been taken?
Why furnish ammunition to the enemy
Who hammers jewels from your tears?
Who am I to say, 'This is the end! '
When I am the world's ignoramus.
I can't outsmart the market
But I second-guess my God?
I have made a list of every known sadness
And set it ablaze on a paper plate.
Let others twist their hankies at night.
I am free of all that forever.
(2006)
The spirit never dies... Enjoying the spiritual focus in your poetry, Mike, and I esp. like the fourth couplet (tho' it is tough choosing a favorite) ... A needed exhortation, this.
I am especially fond of the visual image of your enemy hammering your tears into jewelry for himself, because that is truly the way some people are - if they can bring you to your knees, then the are happy. Good write, Mike
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Mike, your poem reminds me of Gibran's ultimate defiance of grief: 'The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.' love, Alison