Survivors

Survivors

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Symphony


© 2016 Steve King
All rights reserved


I watch at last while others pass me by,
their glad parade my happy respite now:
the songs, the dancing and the wondrous show,
all certain pleasures shining as they go.
I marvel while I watch at the remind
of every feeling that the young may hold,
of worlds unfurling, vast, before their feet,
and all strange puzzles they’d presume to know.

I am not near so wise as once I wished,
nor happy in that way that glosses dreams.
I greet the mornings now as a fair gift,
imparting with each newness all I seem,
or ever was, or ever may become,
no hasty needs to pierce the centered calm,
nor mar those graces morning might bestow.

And when these glad parades have had their play,
and airs are emptied of their new spun song,
there lingers always something in my ear,
the echo of old anthems ringing on,
and fading fanfares of parades at rest,
for every age must hold its own the best.
And though new fanfares rise to satisfy,
each morning grace shall be my symphony.


A new poem for The Poetry Pantry
poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/

12 comments:

  1. Steve, this is an exceptional poem. There are poems that I read & poems that I really enjoy reading because of their composition and their message. I think as time goes on we do come to terms with the fact that we are not as wise as we once wished we would be nor perhaps as happy with our lives as we had hoped we would be in our youth...but so very true that with every age there is something good, and every day DOES bring with it the morning grace. And that is something to be thankful for.

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  2. This poem is beautiful and focuses on moments that are now memories. I believe the songs still play in our hearts even during the aging process. Your ending is perfection, A great way to view each day!

    each morning grace shall be my symphony.

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  3. each morning grace shall be my symphony... sigh.. such a poignant image!

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  4. I like the speaker as a viewer of life rather than as a participant. That is the best way to enjoy life and wise too. It gives the mind a vast expanse to accept all with grace.

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  5. This is superb... I simply love that feeling of acceptance, maybe remembrance of what it means to be young... It have a feeling of graduation, maybe we might watch them and feel a little sympathy for the sorrow they will face, but that should not mar their joy today... Sometimes it's enough to be besmitten by their smiles and find it as a backdrop for our own symphony.

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  6. This is so beautiful. I love the nostalgia, the looking back, the rhythm and flow of this poem. And, especially, "I greet the morning now as a fair gift", the "centered calm" and that "each morning grace shall be my symphony." A mosrt beautiful poem.

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  7. I love the speaker's perspective and his wisdom, too. It is so difficult (most of the time) to slowdown and live while watching life... to see things and enjoy them just the way they are... Too many times we spend too much of our living trying to make the next moment better, that we forget to enjoy (and see the value) of now.

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  8. I know this feeling well, though for me the grace is harder to find and feel, all too often--but the parade fading, without regret, yes, that. Lovely rhyme, and cadence that almost tapdances us along like a '30's musical make for a total pleasure to read, Steve.

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  9. Ah sweet--what a sweet poem--it really is a great pleasure to read--I especially like the second stanza-- well all of them, but that settling into the morning as it is is just so beautiful. I love that line about the glosses dream and all I might become--but also love the third stanza--and first--the air's emptying of new spun song is such a special line - and all the parade business very well carried out. Thanks, Steve. k.

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  10. Really enjoyed returning to this poem, Steve, this time focusing more on the youth at its commencement--I spend a lot of time around a few youths--only a few--but love your description of their certainty. K.

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  11. You have a certain way of writing, an ease of style, that even makes the slant rhymes sing. I think that I, now of a certain age, especially enjoyed these three lines:
    "the echo of old anthems ringing on,
    and fading fanfares of parades at rest,
    for every age must hold its own the best."

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