There you can be who you want to be -
Nobody’s yelling or carrying on.
Pure brooks replenish rivers
Fit for swimming and drinking
And on the seashore, no tangled plastic
Nor the matted corpses of seabirds.
There you can really create stuff -
No one’s dissing your best endeavours.
Sleep is easy in the quiet safety of home
With dreams that are serene
And on the TV screen no endless tales of crime
Nor gloomy broadcasts all the flaming time.
There you feel you are truly living -
Nothing’s menacing your peace of mind as
Starlings flock in rhythmical shoals
When autumn days submit to dusk
And on the edge of felicity - no sudden thuds
Nor faraway grey thunder grumbling.
Ah yes, we all long for Utopia. Happy Birthday, YP!
ReplyDeleteSeems like you found it in Prescott Valley Bruce!
Delete👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteI do not know how to do those emoji thingamabobs.
DeletePlus no one has to work for a living but can spend their entire life doing just exactly what they want and what fulfills them. And love relationships always go well and never end badly. Plus everyone's in good health all the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd they don't need to get their eyes "done"!
DeleteI met a traveller from a verdant land,
ReplyDeleteWho said—“There lies a realm both calm and grand:
Its gates are silence, peace its only creed,
No tyrant’s voice, no hungry heart, no greed.
The black cats wander soft through fields of thyme,
Their eyes like embers marking mortal time;
No shout of rage from screens or trembling hands,
No armchair outrage fouls its gentle sands.
There Trump is but a name the winds forget,
A ghost of noise the dawn will not regret;
The seasons turn—each leaf and petal sing
Of endings kind as every bright beginning.
And on the plinth where men once carved their fame
No boast remains, no gilded, hollow name—
Only these words endure in quiet grace:
‘Here humankind and nature share one face.’”
It is hard to know what to say about this poem Traveller. I think it is your own modern reshaping of "Ozymandias" and if it really is that, I think it was quite brilliant my friend. Well written!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Neil. Hope you have a year filled with fine walks, lots of laughs, fun adventures, peace and joy!
ReplyDeleteMe too. I am not ready to go quite yet. Thank you Ellen.
DeleteIs it your birthday? Happy Birthday Neil!!!!! I'm sending you my very best wishes for another happy, healthy year and many more to come.
ReplyDeleteTen more would be excellent. Thank you Jennifer.
DeleteI LOVE your poem. If only we could live in a place like that.
ReplyDelete