Survive the night

This is my longest poem yet so bear with me guys!

I want to see what survives the night,

 absolving our shadow breath.

An untouchable, seemingly valuable law,

Tethered by a cruel virgin.

It lives in ever-increasing towers

rising unto occult stations,

Into unacceptable seasons of gold.

 

Information is not out-formation,

merely eagle intimations.

The most common occupation

Is to eat out the empire: pure, perhaps well done.

Our duty is to go in orderly fashion

a most dreary accommodation,

to a seething pyre

while playing drunken lyres.

Withstanding flightless departures

blooming in distracted wombs

to saunter down halls

Lined with tyrannical eggs

Only to be eaten alive

By lost utensils

 

Bright ideas are merely flickering light bulbs

In a deserted classroom

Absence is the law!

Absence is the law!

Nobody was there to say “Present!”

 

The problem is that most people have checked out

You wanna know why the world is sad?

I’ll tell you why the world is sad.

It is because we treat everything as a fad.

It is because we think “Life’s a beach”

And we keep beaching ourselves like confused whales,

dying wherever we land.

It is because

We keep building castles in the sand.

 

We all have blankets that don’t keep us warm.

I was told to walk away from disease

So, should I wade into ease,

Like a brazen ghost at a dark summer lake?

 

You feel like the dead that can smell their own rotting flesh, 

the ones that bring themselves flowers. 

This is why I like you.

 Because you know that death is just avoiding real death.

That the dead are avoiding death,

And that death is avoiding the dead.

I like you because you are a ceremony. 

A ceremony of yourself. 

Your silent sermon brings sweet death to plenty.

 

They say life is a party but sometimes it feels like it’s over

 and we’re still crawling in spotless cribs and 

suddenly your love tells you “Look at the mess you made!”

“You should be proud of yourself!” ( or ashamed of yourself)

 

Then everything starts spiraling out

Spiraling into alien nights

Stranger hands

Handing yourself over,

Over and over.

 

Over and over

Never caught red-handed

Spinning on a demonic dance floor

Only to be met by satanic hangovers

 

I want to see what survives the night

I want to see your stars take flight

No more looking to the other side

Instead, we shall pass unto the other side

Finally become the promised tribe

 

Not as scavengers of complacency

Which is not born of our agency

Release the fixed angle from

The mosaic made

Of broken time

 

I’m not asking for a new invention

Just an invitation for you to consider

Maybe, just maybe, we aren’t beached whales

Perhaps we are sea shells that will

Wash up on some golden shore

 

A collectively ill-conceived phenomenon

A living time capsule sailing 

storm after storm.

A talisman which floats on demanding

to have its end on a warm divide

where horizons meet their horizons,

a secret valley where light turns panoramic

Where wounded wings meet their hidden core 

Author's Note

I probably got inspired by TS Eliot's "Four Quartets"

If there is a part you don't understand or something that may need reviewing please do tell. Thanks.

Reviews

[CatT]

Wow, this poem was really awesome. The imagery is lovely. I particularly liked
"I’ll tell you why the world is sad.

It is because we treat everything as a fad.

It is because we think “Life’s a beach”

And we keep beaching ourselves like confused whales,

dying wherever we land."

It's so true, and put in a way I have never heard before. Lovely, lovely poem!

[Frontier]

I'm glad you enjoyed! That part is also one of my favorite pieces :)

[NK]

Excellent write.
You really get under the skin of it at certain points.
The imagery as well as the idea behind various sections is so deep.
'Perhaps we are sea shells that will
Wash up on some golden shore'
Perhaps we are.

[Frontier]

:) I'm flattered, and glad that you grasped some of the concepts. Thanks!

[Aethereal]

Only those who best adapt to changing conditions will survive the night, the most creative. No one can do this for them. They must do it themselves, swim or sink. Life is dynamic, not static. Those who don’t act now are left behind in the wake of history. We must no be afraid of change. This was a very intense poem. Right now there are beached whales in the Middle East, Africa, and Russia, and a few drifting sea shells elsewhere. Our circle must find its center, its core.

[Frontier]

Thanks Aethereal, yeah I think that's where I got the beached whale idea. :)

[Aethereal]

You're welcome! There are, and always have been tiny seeds of status quo destruction growing in hidden places. They are ignored 'til it's too late. Events that this Century will be remembered for in ages hence are silently emerging, few have a clue. Everything they we value today shall be overturned, for necessity is the mother of invention.

[Chris]

I felt I understood all the wording and the intent of your thought flow. But I am me - not being disparaging here just being real. It was like listening to a politician admit to something... you know its there - wait, wait for it... waaaiiit for it...WHAP got it.

Imagery has purpose beyond prettying-up a work. Opaqueness mainly causes readers to get lost or worse yet - confused. I am not saying speak less - I am saying be more clear.

"Bright ideas are merely flickering light bulbs
In a deserted classroom
Absence is the law!
Absence is the law!
Nobody was there to say “Present!”
- this was righteous and clear... good imagery too.

And you followed THAT with this:

The problem is that most people have checked out
You wanna know why the world is sad?
I’ll tell you why the world is sad.
It is because we treat everything as a fad.
It is because we think “Life’s a beach”
And we keep beaching ourselves like confused whales,
dying wherever we land.
It is because
We keep building castles in the sand."

again excellent and really clear.

Those shouldn't be stand out examples...your whole piece should be as clear and have lovely WHITE ...TEETH!

just me sayin' not being petty at all.

[Frontier]

Can you please specify where the opaqueness/confusing part is?

I do see the politician speaking! I also see that some parts aren't as clear as those two stanzas. Maybe I can put those other parts in another poem...hmm something to think about. Thanks a lot for your review.

[Mira ThePoetess]

Very profound ... Questions .. answers offered by life along the journey ... well I believe that this poem touuches something in me relating my soul to several parts in your writing. I sure liked it so much... nice ink

[Frontier]

Thanks so much Mira, I am happy when my poems touch souls. :)

[Mira ThePoetess]

we all are :D

[Trevor Jay Bloodworth]

Wow. Very vivid with beautiful descriptions throughout. Well done!

[Frontier]

Thanks so much, Trevor.

[PoemRodent]

Evolution and ever changing and recreation. You do a great job on this write!

[Frontier]

Thanks for the encouragement, Poemrodent.

[joshua deathdealer]

Alot of truth here. Very artistically displayed. "I want to see what survives the night" ..perfect.

[Frontier]

I am glad you enjoyed, Joshua :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

are we doing this, just to avoid doing this?

living our kind of life to avoid real life...and dying to avoid real death.

you pose many questions in this that are significant...we do live like "life is a beach/ and we are all beached whales/ stagnant in movement and dying for lack of it."

we are waiting for something, some new invention that will help us reinvent ourselves...but how long will we wait, how long will we hide in the capsule..just floating towards "where horizons meet their horizons"

as Paul sang "take these broken wings and learn to fly"

saw many visions in this piece...a seldom occurrence for me...a long poem that really held my attention throughout...i tend to drift when there ls such length...but not here.
good work.

[Frontier]

Thanks for your encouraging review. Yes I am the same with long poems but this one pretty much wrote itself! I was surprised at how long it looks on here. :)