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Susan Williams
Poems by Susan Williams : 7 / 56
A Scrap Of Time - Poem by Susan Williams
I need to find time-
a scrap of time
unnoticed
by the demands of everyday life
that chews up every morsel of time it can find.
I want to meditate on these stray birds of thought-
I want to know that my life
was more than washing dishes
and waiting for the phone to ring
bearing news of joy or sorrow.
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Poem Submitted: Thursday, January 28, 2016
Susan Williams's Other Poems
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Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
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Still I Rise
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The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
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If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
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Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
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If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
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I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You
Pablo Neruda
When we find time for ourselves it is when we focus within. This allows time to contemplate very much like what the mind does before sleeping.Your poem has evolved out of me time. A very good write Susan. (Report) Reply
Thank you for rereading this and commenting again. It is kind of PH members to support and encourage each other on their journey.
I can 100% relate to your poem. How life does make it's demands on day to day mundane chores. I'd rather be doing more creative things than dishes, washing and vacuuming however I also cannot sit down and write a poem without cleaning the house first. I would feel too guilty. Sometimes after work and chores I am too tired to be creative. I love the 'I want to meditate on these stray birds of thought'. I think I have a whole flock of those birds flapping in the back ground when I am in the throes of never ending housework. (Report) Reply
Sometimes our circumstances make choice impossible- -young children, middle-aged children, teens all need us- -husbands or boyfriends need our attention and validation and button-sewing- - parents need us so badly and time is marching them closer to eternity and - -so it goes. We do what we can when we can and thank God we are blessed with the people we have to do all these chores for. Bless you Simone
I want to meditate on these stray birds of thought...
Words that so well capture a common yearning,
Also, waiting for life to happen hardly fosters human fulfillment.
Brilliant piece! (Report) Reply
Cannot find the comment I just wrote to you a few minutes ago. Sigh. I'll just say thank you, Frank, for your encouragement and time. You make me want to try harder.
Time is a most precious commodity in my life, in your life. (Report) Reply
I wish I never had frittered away time- - -if only I could collect all those moments and minutes and hours I wasted and this time use them up to the max, wallow in them and in my health back then and oh how rich I would feel!
TIME FOR SALE! ! ! ! $10 per minute. send checks or money orders to Bri c/o PH. your minutes shall arrive when i find the time to send them.
i can't remember if i read this. to MyPoemList, if it isn't there already.
bri :) (Report) Reply
I wish it were for sale! ! ! I'd be ordering another 24 hours a day to get both the work I need to do done as well as get a good night's sleep [severely lacking at this moment in time]. You would quickly be a wealthy man for I fear there are many in need of your merchandise!
but you are not a scrap at all
you are amongst the best PH Poets after all
we are all mostly scraps
feed us all
with your poetry
so magnificently high and tall (Report) Reply
WoW, Poet Poet, how pleasant it is to receive such a poetic compliment- -a PH version of a flower bouquet! Thank you, kind sir or madam, the scent of these flower will stay with me all day. :)
Lovely poem. Just A scrap of time to look at those stray birds of thoughts........loved the expression. It will stay in mind for ever. Thanks for sharing. (Report) Reply
Thank you, Savita, may your imagination soar with those birds!
Now, everyone needs to see this already, we all need a scrap of time in our lives. Fantastic piece. (Report) Reply
Hi, Agbor, I am glad that you read my poem and commented on it. It helps us all to hear what other writers see and feel when they read our work. So I appreciate you taking the time!
The first verse of this exquisitely penned poem reminds me of Henry Williams Davis' poem 'Leisure': 'What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare'.
The poetess does not want a day off from life or even an hour away from her daily routine, just a scrap of time, the smallest piece would be sufficient. All her time is eaten up by the demands of life, each and every single day. There is no 'ME time! ' in her day. Time for her to spend as she wishes to spend it and the second verse imparts to the reader very eloquently how she would like to spend that spare time, if it was available to her.
It is very important to note, that if one is waiting for life to give one spare time, then life will be spent without one scrap of spare time. One HAS to make time, without apologising to life or to any human being for taking it, in order to have the time to do the little things one wants to do, like Meditate, write a poem, go for a walk, go to a movie, go on holiday, spend the day alone, etc. If one does not take the time in the present moment, life passes by and passes on and leaves us behind to mourn its loss. The cemetery where I will be interred when I die, is a five minute walk down the road from where I live. It is full of people who thought they could not be done without in life. People who stooped and bowed and fulfilled everybody's need but their own and in some cases this created a bitter resentment. Those who died convinced that they could not be done without in life will have seen from the world of Spirit where they returned to, that life did not stop because they died and those they left behind got on with their lives, often without a thought for the ones who sacrificed so much for them during their lifetimes. I don't allow the dishes or the phone to control my life. I take time out for me when I want to take time out for me and if it doesn't suit anybody in my life, well.....That's too bad!
I adore the simplicity of this very insightful, sublime poetic gem, Susan. It provides a lot of material for your reader to ponder on in the quieter moments of their day.
A very beautiful poem which I so enjoyed reading and which I am most grateful to you for sharing, Susan.
God bless your day and I ask him to guide you towards special 'ME time' for YOU to enjoy!
~Shine~ (Report) Reply
Shine, you are a most delightful reader and commenter! ! ! ! You delve deep and tell it as it is! My worst fear is, having died, someone places this inscription on my headstone- -She kept a clean house.
Can you think of a worse epitaph? It is good as far as it goes but it could describe a robot.... ARGH! ! ! Housewives Unite! ! ! Housework will wait for you- -you do not have to wait on it! ! !
Shine, we are of one mind concerning this- -now to get the husbands on board....
A great line:
'by the demands of everyday life
that chews up every morsel of time it can find'
Wonderful.
Thank you (Report) Reply
Thank you for picking out those two lines- - sometimes lines just flow out of our minds and through our pens and onto the page without any birth pains at all! ! ! ! Thank you for reading, commenting, and enjoying! ! !
Lovely poem Susan. Remain blessed. (Report) Reply
Thank you, Chinedu. You remain blessed as well
I have measured my life with coffee spoons so how should I presume, or something Alfred J Prufrock said. So much of our lives are spent on monotonous routines that we are given limited seams for us to compose our dreams. Your words are like a mirror in which everyone sees their lives reflected back, I feel great kindred with this especially the second stanza. We all want those second hand rags that time gives just for us to prove we are more then the days and years drown. For myself Id like to live as candle then waste away as a star. (Report) Reply
Patrick, the last line in your comment is extraordinarily lovely... I don't mind the household chores- it's the dad-burn repetitive nature of it! ! ! I can never say the dishes are washed, the carpet is vacuumed, the furniture is dusted, the meal is cooked- - because they are never done. They will need to be done several times a day or at least once a day. Argh! I want to paint a picture, toy with writing a poem, work hard hours over my novels, and always have time to call a friend. But men have it no better- -they have to go to work and do the same sort of things day in and day out. Bless us all.
life can be a big kitchen sink
Or even a big mop for spring cleaning
But let not these things your soul shrink
Just sing along and keep smiling....
Great poem...enjoyed reading... (Report) Reply
Love that line- - - - - life can be a big kitchen sink! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Hahahaahahahaha! Great image! ! ! ! This should get an award for most novel image in a comment ever written! ! ! Glad you enjoyed! !
Another brilliant poem, Susan. The other poets have said everything that needed to be said. I offer you this:
A Woman's Meditation
To meditate
On scrap of time
Without worries
Of womanhood
Misunderstood
Breath of fresh air (Report) Reply
Thank you Richard for reading this and writing a comment-poem in response! That took time and poetic skills and I appreciate it!
Hi Susan,
Seen and heard a lot about your lovely poems through comments and PH poets.
I have to make time to read your poems, otherwise, the loss will be entirely mine.
Wow! This is a piece of exquisite poetry!
want to meditate on these stray birds of thought-
I want to know that my life
was more than washing dishes
and waiting for the phone to ring
bearing news of joy or sorrow.
This is exactly how every woman thinks, whether in India or any part of this world.
Enjoyed reading it (Report) Reply
I am very pleased to meet you, Geeta! I am glad you bumped into a comment of mine and decided to see what kind of critter I am... There are so many poets on this site that I thank God whenever I stumble across one of the great talents and/or great hearts that are members of PH. Isn't it great to find commonality in fellow women regardless of where they live? Now I shall go to your page and get to know you! ! !
Beautiful piece of poetry, well articulated and nicely brought forth with insight. Thanks for sharing Susan. (Report) Reply
Thank you, Chinedu, for reading this and taking the time to comment on it. You are very kind.
Susan Williams,
Oh you are making sense! Funny how just the little things in life can mean so much. Your poem A Scrap of time truly speaks to the need of gathering even a morsel within our hearts that has gone unnoticed. This is a call to stop and be still, casting aside the needless activities if they keep us from being strong and healthy within. We all understand as you say the demands of life that chews up every morsel of time it can find and the desire to meditate on these stray birds of thought. Thanks for giving this lovely reminder; stop, think and be quiet..........Blessings to you dear poet............................kathy (Report) Reply
It gets harder and harder to find a piece of time to carry off w/o somebody noticing and saying Can I have just a moment of your Time? whereupon we smile and say of course... Thank you very much for your encouraging thoughts, Kathy
a scrap of time unnoticed by the demands of everyday life that chews up every morsel it can find I love this image Susan the poem captures the flavour of that moment of deep leisure, beingness something we all ache after in hustle and bustle of our lives. When i feel time pressing in, i will remember to take a scrap of time........Full Marks (Report) Reply
It is like we have to go to war to get that time of beingness [like your phrase! ] that we need, that our soul needs. We need to revitalize every so often or we will go flat which is not a good thing in a writer just as it is in a car. Thank you for reading and giving such a supportive comment to it.
a scrap of time.
Exactly, a fragment of time is all we need to resuscitate, revitalize and rejuvenate our mental
and physical alertness.
A well expressed and communicated piece of poem.
Sylva-Onyema Uba (Report) Reply
And sometimes that's all we get, a tiny fragment of time but when they are guarded jealously and nourished well, they can be very fruitful and nourish our souls.
A Scrap of Time
Eloquently portrays the feelings of so many.
Perhaps this poem was one of those stray birds of thought.
If so, it is an eagle. (Report) Reply
Frank, I am looking forward to reading your comments- -you have such poetic ones! Thank you so much for your kind words.