Unflinching Eyes Poem by Edmund V. Strolis
Unflinching Eyes
Wandering souls under this canopy of heaven
Our passion play opens with a new curtain each morning
To a story of a day that has already been written
But before the curtain falls like a billion times before
Humanities tales of longing and broken hearts play out
Some poets see it with unflinching open eyes
The bookends of sunrise, life and then dusk
With pen in hand the poet reveals both shadow and light
Beautiful. Each and every person who has an opinion can be a poet but the best poets, I beleive are honest and use the every day of the every day, clear and spontaneous. If your eyes re open you can see the world as it shows itself but when your eyes are closed you can see beyond the obvious. You actually become a torrent of untold images, simply shared by another persons imagination. A crackin poem. 10
Profound piece of writing. It says so much in a few lines. Throughout history the poets have observed life with unflinching eyes and their words have immortalized the sorrows n joys of human existence. The tales of longings n broken hearts have been part of human lot n captured by the poets in all their essence. The poet is the most rapt audience in the drama of life. A succinct gem of a piece. A big 10
This poem reminds me of Yeats' epitaph for himself, CAST A COLD EYE ON LIFE, ON DEATH. / HORSEMAN, PASS BY. I can't wrap my mind around that sentiment as a summation of his legacy, but apparently that what he meant it to be. I prefer your approach to this ultimate assessment of life's meaning. By calling life a passion play you invest it with inner meaning. And you're intimately involved with the emotional life of others, their sorrows and triumphs resonate in you. And that COLD EYE of Yeats is replaced by a sympathy expressed in the closing line: WITH PEN IN HAND THE POET REVEALS BOTH SHADOW AND LIGHT. That acknowledges the fullness of mortal lives.
I need not wonder if the essence of a writing is conveyed. Not after reading your thoughts, words that express precisely my thoughts. I am not one to drape words with too many clever obscure garments. I believe that a truth told-and better UNDERSTOOD makes for writing worth reading and in its sincerity comes a natural recognition of something universally existent even if not always recognized. To be a poet is really only a title isn't it? To have a mind to say what needs to be said. I wonder if most poets are well aware of their faults? The carrier of grudges, the steal unbending belief system. I Like a person to be aware that at any moment they may be proven wrong in perspective and beliefs. Emerson was well aware that to be a mass of contradictions is only possible in an ever-changing mind. To find that one is wrong is fantastic! Because now you are right.......for the time being.
It is disconcerting to find that the joy we have felt has been felt before by billions and billions of people who lived unknown lives before we came along. It is just as disconcerting that the sorrows that have swept away any moment of joy for years at a time have also been endured by billions and billions- -and often more and worse sorrows. Yet.... at the same time... we are not alone. We read the legends and we read the histories and we see the dramas played out on stage and know we have been actors on the same stage in our lives. But the wisest ones of us learn... we learn and we change the path we walk if we see with unflinching eyes. Fantastic thought provoking write. 10 of course!
What greater gift is there than the gift of awareness? To be able to think original thoughts. Can you imagine if you had been born into the shoes of one of the people that you pass from day to day? What if Susan was simple Sally? I do not mean to belittle these people. They are as they are. They could not choose their DNA, their parent or parents, the make of their golden cradle or potato crate. Your consciousness is fantastic. To be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, your very pulse in this life. What would the essence of Susan look like in crystal snowflake splendor? Spectacular and ever-changing. There is plenty enough for a thousand lifetimes to see with open eyes. We set our path away from the cliffs. We are well aware of their terror, as a poet you will feel too deep to dwell too long. You pay your dues in being aware of the shadow and the light and you earn the right to be happy without a guilt that will serve no one. How well we are and how much we have learned depends on a balance of acceptance and defiance. You have the eyes, evident in your thoughts. I find them fantastic.
Edmund, i like this! Even though brief, it says everything it needs to say- -about the stages of our lives....We've all been in each act....sunrise to sunrise....have witnessed the dusk, and it's tears....most poets do speak of the light and it's shadows...as most of us are not robotic but humans with deep feelings- -expressed through the art with the use of our paper and pen. You, my friend, are a true poet...on your way to writing as brilliantly as the masters...know that your name will live on even after your final curtain call. This is a 10+++++
Theodora you are so kind. Do you know that I made it to page 64 of Fitzgerald's novel 'Tender is the night' only to become annoyed as I thought of how unrealistic it all seemed to me. 'Who speaks that way' and 'Who thinks that way' I thought. We have all lived from curtain to curtain and realize that humans are a certain way. Most lack depth and that is okay. I believe even in a classroom of 30 students no matter the age you could interview them and see which ones have a certain spark. Not just clever or talented but more observant and aware. I like a poet that is unconventional in that he or she decides on things in a case by case basis. A person that holds seemingly contradictory view points. If you have a liberal or conservative view I want to find that common sense has you breaking ranks now and then and that you have beliefs that are personally held. I am no fan of people who can't defend their beliefs without quoting a tired pamphlet. I want to know what a person believes and why they believe it.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
4/24/2024 7:37:19 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Beautiful short poem on life-drama. I loved the fatalism in the third line and the witnessing of the play by the poet with unflinching eyes, pen in hand revealing shadows and light.
Finally Madathil I have some time to read your poems. I wish to address these wonderful comments first. So it is that the line is fatalistic. Do you know what my desire is? To spend as much time as I would like inspecting, admiring, contemplating the designs of nature. The dimensions and designs of the plant life that goes unnoticed right before our eyes. In earlier poems I captured this by using the fantasy of being stranded on an island with a treasure of books for company. That level of undisturbed bliss would reveal our true selves. No artificial barriers, no clocks, no calendars, no schedules, no culture saturating our waking moments with messages that distract. Only crabs, sea birds, waves crashing and the milky way brilliant and infinite.