Wednesday 28 May 2014

POETRY JAM - OLD AGE


“Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.” - Confucius

Poetry Jam has enjoined followers to write a poem: “…whatever your age, write away about the ever-old topics of age, aged or aging.” This topic has made me think about it on many occasions in the past, and you can see what I wrote here, and here, and here.

As it is Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, reflecting on old age becomes all that much easier as the year slows into its decline and ultimate fall. Here is my offering for this week:

Autumn Evening

As evening falls so softly, cold
Memory’s scent I follow,
And life grows dark and old.

Leaves die, as they turn to gold
The sound of voices hollow.
As evening falls so softly, cold

I try to break its stranglehold;
My spirits fall and ebb, so low –
And life grows dark and old.

I try to be so resolute and bold
To make my song again to flow
As evening falls so softly, cold…

The wood attacked, consumed by mould
Decay eats into it so slow,
And life grows dark and old.

My dreams to highest bidder sold
Love’s ghosts in sadness wallow:
As evening falls so softly, cold
And life grows dark and old.

18 comments:

  1. quite frightening reality in your poem...life winding down...the saddest part is that last stanza to me....selling off dreams and letting go the hope of love....

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  2. Softly, cold, dark and old pervade this poem of aging to perfection. Full of mood and the chill of aging.

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  3. My first feeling as I started to read this was that it was going to be a comforting poem (maybe the beautiful photo helped give that impression!). But by the end it felt sad and cold. Thanks for contributing to Poetry Jam!

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  4. This is beautifully composed ... I feel the chill of your Autumn.

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  5. Beautiful and melancholy. Autumn as a metaphor of old age approaching works well.

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  6. Autumn is the season of dying and sadness. I can identify with the last stanza, the letting go of dreams and readjustment to reality time. Thought provoking and real !

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  7. Beautiful and it captures the restlessness of time, the helplessness of life. Well done.

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  8. Beautiful but sad analogy, Nick. Hopefully we can still hold to some dreams, even some higher ones, in spite of the inevitability of our growing older.

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  9. Hi Nick, I always reflect a lot on aging and the ultimate 'winter' of life when we pass into autumn as well. Thankfully, at the moment, we are enjoying the opposite...the rebirth. Smiles. The repetition here works well, driving your message home. I feel the chill in the air. The ghosts. The slowing down. The darkness. I sense the inevitable....the end no one can escape. A powerful message in this poem. As chilling as a late autumn day.

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  10. Wow. A really sombre poem, Nick. I really love it!

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  11. such a timeless beauty in this poem

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  12. Beautifully written – the rhyming scheme, you’ve used here, is brilliant! A haunting piece.

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  13. Melancholy and deep. Wonderful example of the villanelle form!

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  14. Excellent poem with the rhyming and repetition fitting so well with the theme.

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  15. Wonderful poem with a lovely analogy for old age...

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  16. Beautifully written! The flow and repetition work really well and the "round" sounds, love that line "memory's scent I follow" :-)

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  17. So beautifully written though a little sad and melancholy I like the idea of making your song flow again. Thanks for visiting my post.

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