Palinode and passage of a poet

A poet’s journey as goes on An ever-winding road That has many ups and downs known, And as roads take new mode He sees dusk together with dawn To pen a palinode. Comes old age carrying child’s mirth Maturing like fine wine, The old age as if takes new birth To take up tastes refined, Life seeming to look well its worth, Lighter gets when pen’s line… On themes that may not for long wait— On what he thought and saw And may have fancied at that date, Ripe enough what was raw, That sooner strike and seldom late, No more the poet awe. What was said ere— product of heart, Gets vetted by the head, Newly framed as poetic art As the time moves ahead, All of it or in tiny part, For, what gets stuck is dead. Show me a pen, sans change of mind, No pen writes on a stone, That never does need for change find, Brain’s no ossified bone, Poets therefore are more inclined To alter their pen’s tone. And when at late last they do so On their journey’s crossroad At the end of long go-no-go, What poets call a Palinode, Without a doubt of dark shadow, Shines as sonnet or ode. _________________________________ Musings |02.05.2024| change Poet’s note: A Palinode is a poem recanting or retracting on something said earlier (Greek: palinoidia= back/again, and aeidein= to sing). It was Ogden Nash who once wrote, Candy/Is dandy, /But liquor/Is quicker. But he later added in what can be called a Palinode: Candy/Is dandy, /And liquor/Is quicker/But makes me sicker. The poem is classified under ’Other’ but may be called Palinode.