Battle Between the Will and the Soul

 

This storm brews in strange clouds, thunder
rumbles through heart, mind, soul; malice
grows like weeds within. We sunder
them with scythe, then go seek solace
in our center, breathe from lotus
posture and cleanse soul despite will
and enter the sacred palace
where spirit calms, where life is still.

 

Days pass in tasks void of wonder,
mundane exertions; each near miss
hits like luck gone bad. Our hunger
for more and more binds to this
cycle of yearning. Yet remiss
in care of our own souls, we thrill
over sparkly things. Who’d notice
when spirit calms? Where is life still?

 

Breathe. Slowly. Life resides yonder,
and life resides here. We seek bliss
as though it were hidden. Ponder
this. It is false. Truth does not kiss
the despot’s ring. Self will persist
while soul and will battle with skill
unlearnable. And, within, twist
where spirit calms and life grows still.

 

Breathe. Center. Find Self. Don’t resist
peace, but embrace the All and Nil
that are self and Self. In this mist
all spirit calms, all life grows still.

           

 

David M Pitchford
            15 November 2007

Reviews

[Wildfleour]

This is very lovely and reflects my current state of being! :)

[missrain]

I wish I can make a poetry like yours, the words are just......superbly fluent :)

[David M Pitchford]

Thank you, Jenny. It's mostly a comment on the difference between life of the body and life of the mind. I've studied Greek and Roman mythology to some extent, and was razed on the Holy Bible. And I practice Zen meditation. It's an intriguing mix of thought patterns that seems to surface with a noble kind of tension in poems such as this one. Other poems tend to show the conflicts there. And still others of my poems tend to use the myths and mythical characters as the vehicles for my metaphors. I've finally gotten to the point that it comes to me more naturally than to just blurt out the poem - though to some extent I miss the purity of that 'blurting'.

[Jenny Davis]

Magnificent metaphors! I loved the images of scything obstacles. The confidence and peace in this poem really shined...excellent stuff :)