A Rock and a Soft Place

As I watch a lonely rock hurtle through space I explain the meaning of life.

The meaning of life,

my rock most dear.

Is life provides the meaning.

Adrift in space,

without a place.

Is a life in search of freedom.

Life is change,

my rock most dear.

Speed is not the issue.

A rush to the end,

will break and bend.

The trip is why we wander.

Lessons are learned,

my rock most dear.

Only by working together.

Life is mind,

 and lessons combined.

Living is better than being.

A level above,

my rock most dear.

Is not the level below.

The need for change,

can feel quite strange.

The weight will show the measure.

Start with why,

my rock most dear.

Stuff is what others will do.

Find your aim,

before the game.

People buy why you do it.

Start with a verb,

My rock most dear.

Actions speak louder than words.

We have to be clear,

to stop all fear.

Values are why we do it.

Leaders who lead,

my rock most dear.

Is a tribe with common wants.

The chain of life,

may be fraught with strife.

But only change can do it.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

I enjoyed the rhythm of this little poem. I actually spoke it out loud. Ah the meaning of life, the ten billion dollar question? We will be pondering on it forever, and no doubt tying ourselves up in knots about it. What we can be sure of is nothing stands still. The certainty is change, everything changes, and many things now seem to be changing at ever rapid speed. Thank you for sharing this poem.

Chris

[GregoryM]

Thanks Chris! I'm glad you enjoyed it. You are right about change, I didn't think I would be writing poetry at this stage in my life.

[Chris Shaw]

It's never too late to start. I hope it gives you as much joy as it has given me over the years.

[emipoemi]

The rhythm of the poem is enjoyably fun and it moves seamlessly! I love the repetition of "my rock most dear", a great driver home. What I found a bit jarring, though was that the C lines didn't rhyme, and the metre set it up so that they would. I read this twice to see if they do work, but I'm not entirely certain that they do. Being the metre as it is, it would be better if they rhymed. To have rhymes in the even-numbered stanzas and none in the odd-numbered works brilliantly. I just wonder if it's worth the experiment to try rhyming the C lines too. Fiddle around with it, see what you can do, but the poem as a whole is great. Much enjoyed.

[GregoryM]

I'm glad you enjoyed it emipoemi and I appreciate the comments. I actually started the poem with the C lines in rhyme, but I found the point drove home when they didn't. I'm just starting out in poetry so I wasn't sure if I was breaking a rule or not, but I found it had a little better contrast without the rhyme to offset the repetitive 'my rock most dear' and keep the reader from knowing what's next. Thanks for the great feedback!

[emipoemi]

On the one hand, it does offset the repetition, and surprise readers by countering expectations. However it's still a bit jarring in by doing so, and normally non-rhyming is good if the sound of the words compensate for it, but the sound here isn't really doing that, and I'm not entirely sure what message is being conveyed by not rhyming them. In doing so, you kind of contradict your title.......unless that's the real point: A witty play on the expression.

[barleygirl]

Definitely the most interesting & original way of analyzing life! I've never pondered it this way before & it takes a little extra thinking to consider your vast array of possibilities. I'm not a big fan of repetition, so I felt the line "my rock most dear" was a little bit over-used. At first I really loved the idea of talking to this rock, but maybe it became a repetitious line when I longed to have more of a connection or a back-and-forth between the narrator & the rock. Just throwing out thoughts, but of course, you wrote this the way it occurred to you & I respect that, too. Love the title line . . . the kind of word crafting we all wish we'd thought of! *smile* Fondly, Margie

[GregoryM]

Thank you Margie, for your review. I appreciate your comments and value the feedback. It was fun to write and I'm glad you found it interesting!

[MoonChildPoetry]

very beautiful. i liked the flow of the words, and the structure of this piece. well done. cant wait to read more

[Onlyme]

Meaningful deep and profound. Rhythmically flowing like a graceful stream. Of the river of life. From start to end.

[GregoryM]

Thanks for the comments, very poetic. Is there a nicer compliment?