A yester man with yester thoughts

To an unknown octogenarian

An old man of yester generation
bids goodbye,
May as well be his final one
But all he manages to say is "Hello"
And hello and hello again..

When despair strikes,
look the opposite
think like a hundred minus your current age
and tell stories to yourself,
and to the passenger in your next seat
who could well be Mr. Coelho.

The daughter you may never ever see
will live her life;
happy, sad and tumultous;
like the sudden full moon in a cloudy night,
Werewolf's can play cry wolf all the time.

So what are the yester thoughts of this deprecating man?

"He wishes just more sun on grayish days.
He appreciates rain just as to glamorize the sun further
He hopes for happiness which enlivens and lightens
He expects pain to hit to make happy bubbles even bigger
He prays far too gain to be contending
He seeks a bucket of losses to create illusive profits
And finally showers those extra hellos at the season of goodbye"

Make and break men they say
You will find everything you never need
Grains of salt, puddles of mud and lost resilience
Everlasting hope , unfulfilling dreams and undying self belief
A magic potion, a lady's heart and a child's love
A coping loner, an avid friend and an irresistible lover.

But don't break hearts
Go buy stuff at grocery stores
That way they are way cheaper and far less indelible
You want to create footprints in sand
Not broken castles, I hope.

© Nothing Personal. February 16, 2011.

Author's Note

Mr. Coelho met this man

Reviews

[.]

. i'd written for someone once and sir hart said "you sing your own heart's song" ... your song is intense and beautiful and moving and humbling ... all at the same time ... but i must add ... that 2011 is the year ... when you'll land in mumbai with your girl ... and em and i will join you and we'll go meet your daughter ... 99% ...

[Ice QueenJen]

Interesting read, and nicely written. I think my favorite part is dealing with not breaking hearts, but go buy stuff at grocery stores; then creating footsteps in the sand, not broken castles! A very poignant thought too.

[JanieB]

Very good and descriptive. Well done :)

[angelina]

I like it!! It feels like Mr. Coelho is a gentle and caring person who has a smile for everyone, but feels that no one will smile for him or remember him when its his time. So he doesn't want to say good-bye because he can't part with the people he loves without leaving something of him for them to remember him by like they did him. It shows the similarities in human behavior. Something about the search for immortality through absolute mean or something. Or maybe, I'm just not making any sense. Anyway, It's been a while, HII!!

[Shelly Braen]

Mr. Coelho is a lucky man to meet such an enigma of a human being. Such a prose is this life described above.
"He expects pain to hit to make happy bubbles even bigger
He prays far too gain to be contending
He seeks a bucket of losses to create illusive profits"
I find these lines the most profound, maybe because I simply can relate to them most. If I could cry rose petals, I'd make you a bloom for such exquisite work.

[Aekmy]

"like the sudden full moon in a cloudy night,
Werewolf's can play cry wolf all the time." Favorite lines. This is absolutely lovely. Keep writing. (:

[Siddhartha]

oh! this beautiful, tender and sad...had to re read this...just to be immersed in that feeling that somehow eluded me the first time around...heart breaking...

[CalebSchadeck]

I loike this poem, it is (for me anyway) a little hard to follow in the middle, but the first and last lines realy make this poem what it is very good, well done!

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

The first stanza of this wonderful poem really stands out to me.......hello and hello again instead of goodbye. Very well written.

[Zoe Jay]

I love the last two lines particularly.... we should walk lightly upon the world, and not mark it with our pain. A wonderful summary of a very uplifting poem. But it has a sharper side also, the message that, in order to truly fulfill that selfless and joyful existence, we must learn to truly deal with pain... "when despair strikes, look the opposite....". If we can, like this "unknown octogenarian" learn to take joy from modest pleasures, and to convert sorrows into an appreciation of happiness, if we don't break hearts, then we can truly be happy, and leave the world a better place than we found it. But there is a price to pay... we must learn to swallow and forget our own pain, to deal with, to ensure that is doesn't break free, like a beast, and wreak havoc and misery on those around us. Well written, beautiful story, and a wonderful moral. Top class poem!

[Lola Nation]

lovely