I Waste My Days

In the half-twilight of my empty year

Where I crouch, hemmed in                                           

By an avalanche of days,

I hear the trees, murmuring

Some long and sad fatigue,

While birds land and hover

And break their journeys.

 

My life has bunched its folds,

They gather at my feet,

As clouds, grey, scud across each enterprise;

Behind my eyes are glimpses of

Lost days, more sure and wise,

While love lies, mocking me

And each year cries…

 

The clock ticks relentlessly,

The dead leaves fall,

My lost friends walk at my horizon,

The things I found familiar

Have ceased to draw my gaze…

I sleep too long and often, and

I waste my days…

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Jane Winters Rogers]

I have hidden while the clock ticks and the dead leaves fall ,my life has bunched it's folds they gather at my feet..... Wow what wording!!.....you struck my heart and I cried....this is so real...a sad and pleading need. A hopelessness. A very gray, cold .bleak, look at a life full of despair
.......... .Behind my eyes are glimpses.......
lost days more sure and wise while love lies mocking me and
Each year cries....I only wish I could find the right words to tell you how much I love this

[Valentine]

One of your best writes. Pure poetry no story just you expressing yourself. Nice write. Valentine

[Claire in VA]

Wow. This is a timeless piece that reaches across generations.
Here, I read deep contemplations that may apply to one's entire
lifetime or to just a season in one's life. Profound words, David.
Super job. :)
Claire

[Mic]

Beautiful verse David. Inevitability. This one's a hidden gem.

[Heather]

Sad to me to feel after such a full life to have days that are now wasted. Lost days more sure and wise...we all look back in a nostalgic awe of what we were once. Beautiful piece. Thank you for sharing a piece of you with me in this piece. It was not wasted on me. :)

[Marie]

Pathetic and lost...drifting...life's closing on a phase before beginning a new one...

[Jasmine]

I don't really understand why this poem hasn't been reviewed more.
The phrase "hemmed in by an avalanche of days" is my favourite.
I can empathise with "sleep{ing} too long and often, and wast{ing} my days..."

I'm glad I read this.

[Edward Clay]

David, I enjoyed this poem - it captivated and it spoke. breathed i think would be a better word to describe it actually. which is somewhat ironic as it professes to waste days. i particularly like the way some of the words and phrases are intertwined with each other, such as "my life has bunched its folds" - to me this could mean many different things, and even just the way it is written expresses a way in which it feels alive, quirky and different. all in all, a very nice poem. i shall have to stop by and read some more of your poems soon.
Clay