To Be or Not to Be

Perhaps we are

earth and all

a simple atom

within a greater entity.

 

This might prove

the absence of reality

as we know it.

 

Does grass green

scream

when we cut it

so silently

that we can not hear it

then does that mean

the call from the blade

does not exist either

as it is living too

it seems

or are these dreams

of reality

as we believe

them to be.

 

These things we think

to be true

could perhaps be a falsehood

a hoax

a mirage

for one and all

to make sense

of something

so abstract as even

the thought of reality

is to me.

 

The feel of June

on a summer afternoon

could this be

unreal

and placed here to

simply entertain us.

 

Although

a feeling of love

a smell

is that real

or all a concoction

of the mind

to make sense

of the dreamscape

that we live in

forever still I ponder

Reality

may not be

or is a construction

of desire

to make sense

of a world in which

there are so many

atrocities

sufferings

and fewer moments in time

as the clock chimes

counting out the rhythm

of our days

in moments

less full of splendor

but warm, soft, ache

sweet, hate, pain

are no more reality

than is the word

Reality

which means you see

or so they say

fact.

 

Well then

what of opinion

or fiction?

 

Do the blind

see reality

or are they also

deaf and mute

and believe not in

its existence

because they can not see.

 

Either way

reality

is as true as a dream

at night

and is as fleeting

as the words and memories

meant by an

Alzheimer's patient.

 

 

Reviews

[David W Moore III]

Or do the blind see past the veil to the 'real' truth. One hopes that many of the atrocities and suffering is in fact illusions and not reality. One day we will gain the vision to see the truth and such suffering will have to end. This is a well written pensive and searching piece, mine was quite a bit more self-centered, but maybe universal in it's application. Nice piece.

[Constance]

This is very deep, and makes one turn to think. Exactly what I wanted in my contest. The ending tied the ideas together in an original way, and left it on the perfect note. The longest stanza does seem a bit grammatically incorrect-but this is not formulaic poetry, so it takes nothing away from it. I love your work. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Damian Alan Gray]

I loved this, Beth! If you ever happen across a contest based in existentialist philosophy, I'm sure this would be a hands-down winner.