Bookworm
Munch, munch, munch!
The Bookworm chews through a book
Gulp, gulp, gulp!
The Bookworm slurps up the knowledge
Nom, nom, nom!
The Bookworm finishes another.
A pile of crumbs left in the wake
It’s off to the library to re-fill their plate.
Indeed there will be time – T.S.Eliot
Prompt 25 Hour 20
Read the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot and use any of the lines, words, or phrases it contains, to write your own poem (Italicize Eliot’s lines)
And indeed, dear husband, there will be time,
As soon as our Baby falls asleep
Time to relax and have some wine
As soon as our Baby falls asleep…
There will be time, there will be time
As soon as our Kid starts school
I will go back to work again and you work harder for an extra dime
As soon as our Kid starts school…
And time yet for a hundred indecisions
As soon as our Teenager goes to college
We will follow his dreams and aspirations
As soon as our Teenager goes to college…
Time for you and time for me
As soon as the Young One marries
Just you and me, with unanswered queries
As soon as the Young One marries…
Indeed there will be time
As soon as the clock stops its chime…as soon as ….
Between 20 and 21
“You rest; I’ll pray,”
A friend told me the other day.
Four simple words,
And I’m reduced to tears.
Because, for so long
I thought I must be strong
And stay awake
And pray for God to hear.
The cries of so much subtle chaos
Of which I am in charge,
To not lay down my duties
And the tasks I had at large.
But here my friend was saying,
“Go sleep; I will keep guard.”
“Go be at ease; You’re not alone,”
“Soldier, I’m on duty now”.
And so, I laid my pack aside
And I slept a deep, deep sleep
And knew on my behalf,
Between my friend and God,
There was nothing I need do.
Nothing they wouldn’t keep.
Aside: Here we are, before the Sun comes up, dragging ourselves through. Imagine if another poet said this to you…You sleep; I’ll write. And you were relieved of duty, just when you were too worn to muddle any further. <3
Warmth
Sleeping next to you
not only feels like home, it feels like
taking my bra off at the end of a long day.
Like starting to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer
for the fourth time.
Like walking back into high school,
almost like I never left.
You feel like stopping back at Grandpa’s house
for a hug from him, and an unwilling one
from his cat, Fritz.
You are my pillow, when I just can’t keep my eyes open,
a step stool, when I can’t reach the top shelf,
a driver, when I don’t want to or can’t
You have been my home for so long that
even memories from before we met
are synonymous with the comfort you bring me
Patience and Timidity (prompt 25, Hour 20)
Acknowledging The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot
Read this in the dawning
When the flush of growth sings green;
When hope rises up like sap, and
Bent age is not yet a fiend.
There will be time, they said, though, in truth, you were afraid.
Oh, dare to be brave! Dare to presume!
Pour love into this battered cup
As sparkling as a diamond ring,
As dazzling as arpeggios
When the heart knows but to sing.
Only if you dare, you challenged, for the yellow fog slides in.
Lift up your face once more, dear one,
And see me for what I am, not less,
Wrapped in the magic of your tender words,
Budding like trust within my breast.
Disturb the universe, while there is time! Dare to be brave, for time will not reverse, I said.
I cradle your truth beneath my wings
Whether you bid me leave or stay.
Consider it a gift, my penance
For all I lost, for all we threw away.
You’ve always known you may presume,my Lazarus, so please begin before I’m dead.
Though few look back at the end of life,
To acknowledge the chaos that they made,
I am bold. Forgive, and take this grizzled hand
In peace, content and unafraid.
The moment of your greatness didn’t flicker as you feared. Was it worth it after all?
Or was that not it at all?
Would it have been worth while? (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock BY T. S. ELIOT)
Your words now have an insidious effect on me
Tedious arguments breaking my heart
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Coz I know you do not give a damn shit
You say
“There will be time, there will be time”
But deep down in the heart of mine,
I know,
Gone is the time
Time for you and time for me
But indeed
There will be time
To wonder,”Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Do I dare to get out of my chair?
Do I dare to declare?
Do I dare to ask if you care?
I, no more, seek answers though;
For I have known them all already, known them all;
But one last question before I leave the world,
If ever I had given one last chance to us, would it have been worth while?
Sevenling (hour 8)
She loved the morning sun,
Vinyl records and acoustic guitars,
Going out at night, and the open mic,
He loved old books,
Sleep-ins and histories,
Violins and the orchestra
But what they both had in common, was that they were meant to be together
Feats
In the wee hours of the night the standstill can be deafening
The others on the way have the same
work to keep up with
knowing they are there, makes the final hour worth heading toward.
Lonely in the quiet of the creative night there is no alone and the sun doesn’t set on creativity.
Let it flow forth in all of its bumbling beauty
Crashing
Sleep sneaks up from behind
my closed eyelids
my soft snoring startling myself awake
I can’t sleep yet!
My tasks are incomplete
But sleep doesn’t care
It tries to dig it’s claws into me
Drags me down to dreamland
My body is crashing.
My Mind is Going
Every day I notice that more is gone
more and more my thoughts get drawn
my thoughts they soar, and my brain is at war
when it arrives i will be bygone.