Memories of a Cestina

A Poem by James Hades

My first try at writing a Cestina, unfortunately i got everything right except the tempo. This piece hints at our commodity based lives and Capitalist striven generation

The feet that are swift to run into mischief are the ones of pride.

Him that soweth discord among brethrens is named envy.

The hands that shed the blood of innocents are the ones of wrath.

Whoever possesses a lying tongue is to be named by greed.

A deceitful witness that uttereth lies is empowered by lust.

A heart that devises wicked plots is foreshadowed of gluttony.

We are measured by the things we own, we are gluttony

At times in which the pathway had been lost, we become pride

So bitter is it, death is a little more. Shall we succumb to lust?

To wed our unutterable visions to our perishable breaths is a human envy

Commodity fetishism empowers us to our last wish, as we embody greed

The first rule to feeling is to not talk about feeling, and so we fall to wrath

Strike at innocent bodies as if they were your commodities, you have become wrath

Consume and devour all symbolic values of your world, become gluttony

Filthy lucre becomes a focal point to survival, you have become greed

Deemed an enemy of Zeus due to your hubris, you have become pride

Painful is the good fortune of others? You have become envy

Blown about in restless hurricane-like winds? You have become lust

The snaky qualities bite your neck as you reflect the vice of lust

Wound yourself when you have no one to fight, you reflect wrath

You cannot read so you wish literature burnt, you reflect envy

The abundance of commodities is your ‘everything’? You reflect gluttony

You seek grounds perfumed, covered with cloth of arras, and so you reflect pride

You want the world to be your oyster, yours and only yours. You reflect greed

Everything has become unrequited, there is no other origin than our greed

We come to hate everything we cannot possess, this is because of our lust

Our only enemy is ourselves because we do not know who we are, this is pride

I want you to hit me as hard as you can, I am your wrath

Long is our way, and hard, that out of hell leads up the light, this is our gluttony

Never underestimate our power to destroy and our power to envy

False consciousness enables me to want to destroy others; ideological envy

Private property and consumption has imbued me of violence; ideological greed

Mon objet-petit-a n’arrivera jamais, never shall we obtain; ideological gluttony

Women are but a sexual commodity to me, are they humans? ideological lust

Instinctively barbaric, strike and kill everything, am I human? ideological wrath

I am the centre of the world, happy with what I own, I guess? Ideological pride

I’ve been blinded by my envy, I’ve longed to discard my lust.

My commodities controlled me through greed and resulted in wrath.

I forever throw-up my gluttony as I painfully endure pride.

© 2014 James Hades

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Coyote Poetry

A beautiful and amazing poem. Mr. Dryden (My favorite writer) would like the honest and true feel of your words.
"We are measured by the things we own, we are gluttony

At times in which the pathway had been lost, we become pride

So bitter is it, death is a little more. Shall we succumb to lust?"
Lust, greed and being blind to the real world. Man's see only what he want to see. I enjoyed the complete poem. This is my type of poetry. I took 20 writing classes in my lifetime. This is the kind of poetry you want to read and understand. Thank you for the excellent poetry.
Coyote