This Above All

The poet will maintain serenity in spite of all disappointments. He is expected to preserve an unconcerned and healthy outlook over the world, while he lives. - Thoreau

clairvoyant trees and high seas along with yesterday's breeze

butterflies and rainbows

long swords, velvet curtains and funny clothes

sunrise and sunset

nagging regret

is it the "winter of our discontent" yet

tears on dry pillows

sitting and waiting for the bus 'neath weeping willows

"rolling with some cajun queen"

"ay, there's the rub ... to die, to sleep - to sleep, perchance to dream"

"to be or not to be"

"standin' to my daddy's knee"

"as you from crimes would pardon'd be, let your indulgence set me free"

suddenly everyone's a poet

spreading a verse wherever the wind 'doth blow it

"oh that a man might know"

"all things are ready, if our minds be so"

living in swamps and sporting long hair

"chasin' down a hoodoo there"

shouldering backpacks with broken zippers

now what did i do with those nail clippers

"would that i could"

we really should give more credit to the person who invented the hood

"a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", well i'm sure that it would

"if [only] i had wit enough to get out of this wood"

"son, don't let the man get you" 

"to thine own self be true"

"this above all" ...

... be prepared to get down on the bayou ...

Author's Note

"But the divinest poem, or the life of a great man, is the severest satire.... The greater the genius, the keener the edge of the satire." - Thoreau

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

I think think this is a satire on life's truth's and perhaps, non-truths... you've done a great job of questioning and answering in your own unique way..." long swords, velvet curtains and funny clothes" now if that isn't an oxymoron, I don' know what is.....you pain the 60's era if we are all airheads.. which we probably were...
regardless, i love this poem and how you strung it together, including the music!
Warmly, B

[Pete]

wow. thanks b. you're probably one of the few people on here who understands my ramblings. yes, indeed i am poking fun at life which no matter what we do and what new inventions or advances, never really changes. john fogerty led the effort to save my beloved walden woods (where thoreau lived and wrote in a cabin near the pond) from being destroyed and developed. i could listen to that song forever as it reaches in and grabs the soul ... :)

[Betty Hermelee]

You're very welcome, loved it!!
Warmly, B

[Thomas W Case]

Brilliant work Pete. Very much enjoyed it.

[andrew mitchell]

This made me wander to Woodstock where for a short time people were on the verge of finding love and peace and then the rain washed their hopes and dreams away. Nice wring Pete.

[Pete]

thanks andrew. I wonder how many people held onto their love beads ... :)