New Poem – To live a little…
Posted on Dec 12, 2016 in Blog feature, Recent Writing | 107 comments
To live a little
You have to die a little,
So says the angel’s
Enigmatic smile.
Never was the need
For any anvil of angst
Upon which
To crack open
The coded chronicles
Of such a pointed
Lifetime dilemma.
Till then, limited
By such dominant
Conviction
That fears the end so.
And such
Are all our hopes,
Freer to flower
Brighter still
When no longer clad thus.
Every true passion
Shared since
Speaking so clearly to this,
The resolute onward journey
Of our soul.
I so love the lines about “the resolute onward journey of our soul.” We must be resolute! I love the uplifting thrust of this poem, especially the hopes, freer to flower……..Happy holidays, Scottie!
So beautifully and enigmatically said about angels, hopes, and passion…
Well these poems are written with great passion and intelligence, how ever i love the part journey there’s so many journey in our mind ,as a poet we sometimes makes the journey for our fellows ordinary friends and families,which is why we are call advance poet of our times modern poetry is making great progress in this crazy world.So i must say it’s take my breathe away to read these lines. perfect so true ,this journey.
I really like this section – “To crack open The coded chronicles a” – because it reminds me of a great library. Nice poetry Scott
Perfect ending, “the resolute onward journey of our soul.” Thanks, Scott!
As always incandescently Hastie! Love the combination of rhythms and ideas and themes that always illuminate Hastie’s poems. To pick a favourite line would be difficult but here goes: “To crack open
The coded chronicles” other readers may see something quite different in this image but to me it speaks of releasing secret joy and finding hidden meaning in the mundane. Lovely work! Keep the words flowing.
“The resolute onward journey of our soul.” Great write with lots of thoughts given.
Your words flow in a beautifully tempered cadence that forever bathes my soul Scott! The final stanza; what a fine close…
Beautiful, Scott.
“Never was the need
For any anvil of angst”
Yet every day’s struggle is the denial of such haunting and intimidating fear.
Excellent poem, Scott.
Very interesting and thought provoking in its form. I enjoyed the poem and cannot wait to read more of your poems.
I agree a perfect ending! Loved it!
Scott, I really like the phrases “anvil of angst” and and the words “coded chronicles” that follow the word “angel”
Beautiful poem. Thank you
Thanks Scott
Man was sent to the earth to do his best to make life as beautiful as possible not only for himself but others. Your insightful words are much appreciated, dear Scott! Thanks for sharing them with us.
Beautifully chosen words to close out this crazy year! Thanks, as ever, Scottie for the lovely post! Sending my very best wishes to you for a Happy Holiday Season!
Don’t let fear of death keep you from living. Amen to that!
Ah, but I love that first line, how shape is lent to breathing, and heat.
You make a fine line seem a mile wide, then there’s this journey, cataloguing all the signs I might have missed. Always a joy to read you, Scott.
Always a joy.
Greetings Scottie
The first stanza resonated so strongly for me. we all have to live a bit more in order to experience loss too. It is a philosophical quandary. The last stanza completed the circle – the resolute onward journey of a soul. Insights like such are mature, evolved, and expressed with a tinge of sadness too. Very provocative indeed. Enjoy the rest of 2016.
Congratulations on another year of fine poetry.
It’s such a nice way for you to end the year. Makes me focus on the quality of life and death too, they are partners. I like that you consider that resolute journey. There is much depth to this poem. Lovely writing.
Fine feelings, nice verse, calming cool thought…
Beautifully said.
About much more than life and death, although about that too. It’s like metal having to go through fire to become stronger.
I really love how you have used the opposite to balance here. For me this sounds like a new-year’s poem. Whatever the next year brings, there is both end and beginning….
Have a wonderful holiday.
To live one`s life freed for passion there is a commitment to the process and an acceptance, however tense it may be, of our finite journey, here.
A beautiful poem Scott and I especially love ‘Every true passion shared since speaking so clearly to this,the resolute onward journey of our soul.’
Such a gorgeous close!!!❤️
The ending has been on my mind a lot lately. I suppose the converse is also true-to meet the end well, you must live a little
I find a lot of strength in the trajectory of this fine poem.
I like your reflections on our individual journey through this life. I’m trying my best not to fear the end as I feel it is just another beginning. Nice, Scott.
Haha Good one! I’ve yet to crack the code too…
ZQ
I like the ending line Scott ~ Wishing you a meaningful and lovely season ~
A beautiful poem. Really love the ending lines!! Have a wonderful Holiday …Scott!!
The coded chronicles
Of such a pointed
Lifetime dilemma… love that!
This to me is a metaphysical poem and I see deeply into a yearning soul for divine direction. I see a hunger for the unknown to be made known. But if this must be then someone or something extraordinary and non- human must come in-between man and the unknown that is why an angel must rip up the chronicles hitherto hiding the mysteries of man’s eternal existence. Only one personification is worthy to open the book and claim the billion of souls who were lost to sinful lust and rebellion and then usher them into a wellspring of life with the trinity.There is no more ” lifetime dilemma” and the fear of where we will spend eternity because he who is to come had already come and our flowers have now become brighter.Our tortured souls can now rejoice in our journey of hope to because we now know where we will spend eternity.
Every true passion
Shared since
Speaking so clearly to this,
The resolute onward journey
Of our soul…………..simply beautiful! It has got a strength to offer….
You did wonderful here…
Lovely alliteration in this! That angel’s enigmatic smile gave me a lot of food for thought!
Life is good.
Beautiful writing.
The first stanza offers a bit of magnificent wisdom. The words evoke an image in my mind, which says, “You’ve seen this, haven’t you? The smiling angel of the cryptic grin?”.
Wonderful. And true.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful poems. I love this section:
And such
Are all our hopes,
Freer to flower
Brighter still
When no longer clad thus.
Speaking as a pastor, what an amazing vision of heaven this is!
Valuable insight indeed. I do believe that we must suffer a bit to truly live. Light is more vivid within the darkness.
We all need to push forward in our resolute journeys. Well said!
Beautifully put….it is that pain from dying a little that chips and hews of those rough edges.
Dear Scottie,
What a truly lovely lighthearted way to speak about our usual belief in “time”, our fears, our egos, and the timelesness of our souls!
This past year has seen so many disasters worldwide, maybe that is one of the reasons why you put your message accross ever so gently…??
All good wishes to you, your loved ones and your many loyal followers too,
Jelka
Scott says:
As ever, you get it… My dear Princess S
Very nice, very beautiful Scott, I really love this one.
Truly wonderful, Scott… I am going to share it with all my friends… Have an amazing Christmas…
To me, a philosophical and metaphorical poem that is a fine definition of a path, a way, towards the rest of our lives….I like the hope it projects….
Funny, I don’t look or lean on the anvil of angst that comes with life…it just happens….but there is so much good around us, it is the beacon I try to follow. I find that in your poem, too.
Overall… It’s a very good poem, not loading with metaphors, but stripped down to the nature of something sensible. At least this is what it reads to me. The simple message is stunning and needed.
I also think that the pre-ordained religious stuff associated with this time of the season corrals any other creative and individual thoughts and practices by those who don’t march to the dominant drummer. The Winter Solstice expands my gratitude and appreciation for the season and beyond.
Overall, a marvelous poem, Scott. One that I am glad I read at this time of the year.
Life smiles through the lines of this glorious piece, dear Scott!How can I not praise the profound depth of this poem! I mostly love the second stanza along with the opening four lines.Amazing phrase you created- ‘anvil of angst’ and I adore that ‘angel’s enigmatic smile’. Excellent piece of poetry as ever. Thank you for this great work.
So beautifully penned specially the last few lines…
That angel could well be right.. maybe our souls are both dead and alive – if we carried everything in its live state it would be hard to keep going..somethings must be shed aside to lighten the load.
Perfect poem to read before the year ends! Looking for the new year
Happy holiday, Scott
Dear Scott!
Beautiful metaphors, beautiful poetry! You are a wonderful, fine poet! Even seeing those pretty lines, translated into Russian language, I have a lot of fun!
I’d really like us to become friends. Very sorry that you do not read in Russian. But the spiritual connection still triumphs over this, given that, even with rough translation, the poetic metaphor can break through and melt any iceberg of a foreign language! I love your poetry, in common with Yeats, Keats and other principal luminaries!
Yours Maxim.
Scott, your poetry is so enjoyable. It touches the heart of life. They do say to live a little you must die a little, perhaps it is to make room for new experiences.
Ah, I wait for that time when hope is freer to flower again. May it come soon…….
Happy holidays to you, Scott; and a great poetic year ahead.
Fear can certainly impede our journey, but we are much the poorer for it when it does.
I like the layered truth here. Life is such a coded mystery. You remind me that it is all soul building.
Wow, really enjoyed your poem, such a powerful opening stanza.
Luv your second to last verse best. It seems to bridge the contemplating soul in the words gone before and the resolute of determination of the final verse.
Much love…
As abstract you write I am beginning to put together a string of somethings that may be comprehensible. He! He! He!
But always a delight to have tea with you.
ZQ
Love the lines … hope freer to flower and a resolute journey … positive thoughts for the new year. Happy Holidays from Loredana at Magic of Words.
This is very contemplative and eloquently articulated. “The resolute onward journey Of our soul”: indelible!
The soul twist and turns in our need to know. But, sometimes stills to listen for forever.
Elizabeth
The opening and the second to last stanza are my faves.
I know i’m nutso, but I read this as being about 1) that old cartoon The Littles, and 2) living/dying as a little … sub, baby girl, whatever you want to call it.
Don’t stone me. I don’t mean to be so twisted in the head. 😛
When you put it like that, I think, ‘Yes, what else is there?’
Passions are to be shared
This is sparse but vivid
A garden carefully tended.
Lovely
The opening lines remind me of that song ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’, kind of wistful and then you sock it to us with an ‘anvil of angst’ and ‘coded chronicles / Of such a pointed / Lifetime dilemma’. The human journey will always end in death so what’s the point in allowing ourselves to be ‘limited /By such dominant / Conviction / That fears the end so’. Better to be free to flower. I think I have reached then age when I don’t fear death itself, just the manner of passing.
What a thought provoking and insightful poesy Scottie sir…So subtle and sublime , like always
Congrats!
Yes sure, whatever be your latent fears, Headlong plunge resolutely towards your forward journey of burgeoning life, with new hopes and aspirations to flower and fructify.
Nice to see your poem ending on a happier note!
Merry Christmas, dear sir.
Fond Regards
Neena
Thanks, Scott – really great stuff.
Awesome work. Appreciate you for your commendable literary contributions. Thank you so much for taking time and sharing your thoughts…
So profound yet so simply & concisely expressed – beautiful!
I love this poem. It has the simplicity and complexities inter-weaved in a thoughtful, delightful way, yet still leaves one with much to savour.
I absolutely love your new work. It encapsulates all the emotions I am currently going through. The life’s dilemmas, uncertainty , contingencies and all the coded chronicles which are part of our very existence. I guess these challenges make us more human and keep us grounded in order to be resolute and soldier on with life’s ongoing journey with hope and faith.
I wish you a lovely Christmas and may the spirit of Christmas replenish you with happiness, contentment, fun and creativity.
The resolute onward journey
Of our soul
There is always the hopes and expectations of something good coming our way! Merry Christmas to you Scott and happy hols!
Hank
It is a fitting end to 2016.I loved the topic, the philosophical bent and the cadence of this piece.
You did a wonderful job here
A fine lyric Scott.
But the way is sadly littered with the ghosts of other souls.
trouver la clef de la prison du passé s’en évader sans le renier étroit chemin, malaisé
find a key open the jail of the past run away don’t forget, that is the narrow way, uneasy.
Much enjoyed this poem. It could be self-pitying but, instead, it is positive. I too love the metaphors and will read more.
Hello! Another beautiful, poignant piece! Your words speak truth.
“To live a little you have to die a little”!
It gives us appreciation and gratitude!!
Thank you for another philosophical ingestion.
I am really pleased to have this connection with such a great person, I am very interested in poetry and its depth, because poetry is always the most concise, distilled and beautiful way of explaining entire life and experience.
I read your poems, and that shows You have a great poet and kind human inside you. 🙂 I always admire poets and have so much respect for them and I am therefore really feeling so good and happy to have conection with you. I would love to promote your poems, because they really deserve to be famous like a shining star.
May you live a longer, healthy and more wealthy life, You made my new year good 🙂 Stay blessed.
This is particularly well written. I especially like the first two lines.
Your poem is about living without fear, at least I took that from it.
Dear Scottie, I feel your frustration, fear of the unknown barely clothed in hope, caused in part by a tumultuous year of death bathing the entire earth in its evil… an evil never before felt to this degree. Hope jumps out from flowers but we all know their bloom is short. Is this to be our destiny? May our Creator save us from ourselves.
A match for any Wordsworthian music
I liked your poems, they are so good
Good Poem Sir, appreciate your work, can you please help my learning of guest posting
Beautiful, especially the first 4 lines.
Awesome lines Scott,you have sum up the life in your beautiful poetry,thanks for a new vision towards life,great work,keep it up!!!!
Nice poem…
Such soothing , soul rending and interactive poetry.
Beautiful poem regarding the movement of our soul through this life into the next. I really liked it!
To live a little we have to die a little. This sums up life. Beautifully written, Scott.
That is a very nice contemplating piece.
I enjoyed this deceptively poem… I’m still meditating on it. Take good care. Cp
Your poems are beautifully crafted.
Live and let it not be in reverse as evil.
This moment is so vast and still little we know about it
Death is pleasant and journey of this life if measured
Flower blossom only to wither away after bearing seed
Thanks for the nice words and take care.
Regards
I feel really happy to have found your webpage and look forward to so many more entertaining and stimulating times reading here.
Nice post. Thank you
I wondered upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your writing. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
Good Writing!!! The way you have conveyed your message is more than impressive…
Great Awesome blog…Thanks for sharing. Waiting for your next update…
Thanks for posting this kind of worthy information, which was really very helpful to me. Keep continuing.