The Longest Dawn Part 1

THE FIRST PART OF A CROWN OF 15 SONNETS BUT IT HAD TO BE SPLIT UP BECAUSE OF CHARACTER SPACE ALLOWANCE WHICH RUINS THE WHOLE THING Life is hard yet worse to say a goodbye. We strive, we drive, we grow, our life is done Our future none knows, we try and we cry Don’t look back the good book says to look on Don’t give up you can fix with straw the pail Effort, sweat, tears to crawl out of the mire Don’t listen, get up fight back, you won’t fail A weakness, a mistake, you are the liar Show what you are made of fight this is life Claw your way up, stretch out do not ask man Those first steps the falls, your fear may be rife Stand firm, stand tall and say yes when you can But life is for those live grab it, don’t break One struggles at birth for each breath to take 2. One struggles at birth for each breath to take The right to record your name in life’s book To fill the earth then your thirst you may slake To leave history, your offspring can look Back on your name and your deeds be they much Back on your years be they few you cherish To learn to read, write to enjoy and clutch Give to others live for you, not selfish Marry, live alone, have children or not Don’t hurt, don’t, pity, be empathetic Tarry, play, forgive, take not that last shot A child gone, is the world apathetic Yet reason to rejoice and not to cry Each finger each toe examined by eye 3. Each finger each toe examined by eye Mothers love no matter the intense pain Perfect or not, slimy defenceless cries Fathers swear they can’t go through it again A first breath, a first suckle it begins Life renewed, promises made, only good. Each life a lottery, each shade of skin A pot of shades, learn to mix flesh and blood The same yet so different, where’s the blame Together in life they intertwine fast Age, aches, twisted bones, joints swollen aflame We mocked we shocked but life is still a blast But with tender passion and hands that shake Love immense, life given and hearts do break. 4. Love immense, life given and hearts do break. Knees wobble, chins jut, the budding of youth Young bodies they lust for, childhoods they take None can say we knew any wrong, in truth Stand in judgment how can we judge, we saw Did we tell or hide in the deep recess Shut our eyes and our minds but they still gnaw The promise we made and their life we bless How wrong to trust this image, this great source Robbed of peace and harmony guilt of man Innocence stolen, who’s to say endorse None, let childhood return please if it can Yet we grow we live we fight and we cry Each stage of life left without a goodbye © MANDY TAMS 25/5/2016