Notes About The Poem

Awaking From Stupor Contest    Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker

                               January 16, 2024

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Awaking From Stupor

Somewhere within me there were seeds I'd planted,
lying dormant within fallow fields of another time ~
A Sonnet once started until it lost rhythm and rhyme.
For years I'd been chained to shadows that never faded
and I'd traded nights without sleep for blurry visions ~
as if wool needed pulling from my nettled eyes.

I was not naive. To find the fruits of wisdom, 
there were mountains of issues I'd need to climb.
Through what seemed ages of clinging to what I'd known,
I realized my heart had stopped singing and the silence
became a ringing in my ears that deafened me.
There was no mirth in my laughter, no elation or passion.

I sought a way to loosen the ropes that held me captive 
in the dark. Not a spark of hope could I ignite to survive
until I'd end the journey I'd taken.
I needed to wake from shadows into the vivid light of life.
No longer did I want to be stifled with despair and strife.

I desperately sought a way to sleep peacefully,
not lost in a vacuous stupor, a maze with no way out.
Instead, I'd wake without dread ~ free spirited, not jaded.
I had an urgent need to no longer be filled with doubt.

Then, it hit me as a jolt, as if cold water splashed my face.
Life was not a race to be run, but a liberating experience,
an exuberance for living that I would wholeheartedly embrace.
I remembered the lulling words I'd once read:

"it's not desire per say but the clinging ~
that stifles soul and stops heart from singing
enlivening silence sets our soul free ~
vibrant in the now, joyful and carefree"
Copyright © | Year Posted 2024

Poem

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