The Beasts

Western minds automatically look for reasons, to categorize that which maybe can not be categorized.

Floating oarless with the currents 

we move at one pace through dark forests.

You can see the shapes within

if you don't look at the trees.

Why do we have to make sense?

This price we pay for species success

is knowing too much about how 

life always ends in death.

I'd rather ponder the dark shadows

creating rather than observing.

I'd rather be shaman then analyst

poet rather than definer.

Discovering them is not in the 

lines of definition

but in the inward journey

through emotions we don't want to find.

Some see them as ghosts;

stricken from a wasted past

Others might see in them saviors;

Handing out eternity if we follow their path

We see the fantastic out of the mundane

we see what we would follow

leading us in a darkness we want to trust

we want them to tell us, just tell us how to be saved.

A cracking branch,

a leaf on a breeze,

a scent of something sweet and decayed

We see, we desire, we describe.

I believe those shadows are beasts to fear

to love, to hope for, to long for,

to wait for, to wonder and worship over.

But then we put them in a bag

where, compulsively defined, they will wither, rot, and poison.

Author's Note

Reviews

[apennylate]

The bars and rhyme choice here are stellar... I really enjoyed it, and was pulled into the swirling eddy of lines immediately... Smartly penned...

[Mark]

Thanks much for reading and your comments.

[Valentine]

Wow, I really like the words you used in this one. Some really good advice. Another one for me to save. Valentine

[Great Aunt Astri]

Yes sometimes it is good 'to ponder the dark shadows.' knowing everything can be counter productive.

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree my friend.
"I believe those shadows are beasts to fear
to love, to hope for, to long for,
to wait for, to wonder and worship over.
But then we put them in a bag
where, properly defined, they will wither, rot, and poison."
The above lines are needed often in a long life. Thank you Mark for sharing your outstanding poetry and thoughts.
Coyote

[Nia Hope]

Wonderful poem! Reading pieces like this makes me wish I had more time to write without losing too much sleep for my classes lol.

[Mark]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed.

[eglantine]

Interesting piece. Love the imagery in the first and last lines. Would love to see more of that darkness in the middle of the poem, more sensory. Thank you for sharing.

[Mark]

You're right. Way too much brain in the middle. I'll work on that thnx.

[Pryde Foltz]

I do believe we have put so many of them in a bag that they fight like cats … or at least we do over what the contents should be. I agree let's have some wonder. Great write, Mark:)