Every String Breaks
The beginning bestows excitement
From the lies of what the end will grant
Rushing 'til half the treatment
Slowly, the feeling of confusion that
instant
Creates an illusion without its testament
As faces of all remain constant
While the souls at risk have no
replacement.
Mid-way to the existing departure
The drums hit the silence
For time is no living creature
Nor a body under pretense
Which grows with a figure fully mature
Riding through the way in search of
spiritual essence
When suddenly the wheels flatter under
dense pressure.
The path still smooth and rough
Has no skin of pins and nails
The stars shone and soon went off
For the hero seems to feel he fails
The fight he felt was not so tough
As the race of water in pails
He lost his breath and that was enough.
***
Here's the thing when I write poems - I never start out knowing what I want to write about. I first focus on rhymes. This poem goes with the pattern a, b, a, b, a, b, a (first, third, fifth, seventh lines rhyme; second, fourth, sixth rhyme). It doesn't just stop at finding words that rhyme; there's a lot of rephrasing involved, to make sure each line connects. That's why poetry is as much science as it is an art!
After writing this poem, I spent a lot of time trying to understand what it's about. This is how I interpret it - it's about a soldier. He's on his way to the battlefield. All he knows are the words of his Commander "victory will be ours!" Everyone assures each other that they'll have a good fight and they'll bring home honor. But of course they're nervous. They're thrown into confusion once they set their foot on the ground. The field isn't that pretty, and it's too late to back out. This one particular soldier starts to pray. But that doesn't stop time for him. He chose to go to war, and that is what war is. Ups and downs...day and night... but more downs and more nights.
Interpretation number 2 - my poem is about non-permanence in this "physical" world. We're always so busy anticipating the future, the tomorrow, the next 10 years. We are ever so hopeful. But we're just running towards our end. We try so hard to understand beyond day to day [in search of spiritual essence] but there's just so much we can take. Racing with pails of water? What happens when you do that? you spill! Those are the mistakes we've made, the pushing and shoving we desperately do to get through the way. We're all so ambitious. But what's the point? We're just going to die anyways...
*Note: This is just creative writing! not synonymous to my personal beliefs (about our purpose in life)