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What Keeps Me Going

Life, like a practiced comedian on the stage Keeps smiling and frowning in turn. Under the embers of joy that spark from our hearts, Lies the pulverized heap of charcoaled dreams! Sometimes I find life, a tight rope walk When a false step can prove so very fatal And fear it might land me in some bottomless abyss Demanding me to proceed with utmost caution At such times, I raise my heart in prayer For divine assistance and godly intervention Sure, this abidance in God keeps me on When life turns a trek through labyrinthine paths While staying at the Himalayan heights of joy Sometimes I feel hurled down into the nadir of despair Soon after proudly flaunting my trophy I see myself smashed into utter defeat…. When trials and sorrows, thus dominate my life And joy, I find is only a passing phase, I turn to inspirational books and biographies of men Who have dared and won against all odds And thus fuel my mind with fresh hope Sometimes when I feel moody for no reason And am weighed down by an inarticulate ache I make a stroll into nature, to the silent shade of trees To hear the nightingales sing, to see the bees collecting pollen To feast on the beauty that surrounds, And inhale the salubrious air that comes wafting Then I am filled with a new vigor and renewed zest Brightening every corner of my darkened mind In all ups and downs, when life becomes full of care I withdraw into a lonely corner with my pen and paper And tap at the fountain springs of my imagination When a cascade of feelings plunge down from my heart, Spurting out in broken jets with or without rhyme Unveiling inmost secrets and thoughts of joy or gloom Then it quickly hands me down with a therapeutic effect And the storm inside ceases and a divine calm settles April.3. 2022 What Keeps Me Going Poetry Contest Sponsor- Cecelia Hopkins Drewer

Copyright © | Year Posted 2022




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Date: 4/4/2022 7:47:00 AM
This explains it for many of us "I withdraw into a lonely corner with my pen and paper And tap at the fountain springs of my imagination "
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Valsa George
Date: 4/7/2022 5:31:00 AM
Yes, it is applicable to all poets ! Thanks a lot Caren !
Date: 4/3/2022 2:56:00 PM
You have a way with words, Valsa: While staying at the Himalayan heights of joy Sometimes I feel hurled down into the nadir of despair
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 11:06:00 PM
If you feel so, I am so happy Kim ! Thanks a lot !
Date: 4/3/2022 11:30:00 AM
People who try to drink their "pick-me-up" invariably get bogged down . . .Good luck in the contest, Valsa!
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 11:05:00 PM
Thanks a lot Rico for your insightful comment !
Date: 4/3/2022 5:17:00 AM
Words of inspiration--a guide to keep going when travails of life place hurdles in our paths. Nature and poetry are great companions. Win BIG, Valsa.
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 9:04:00 AM
Thank you so much Vijay for your insightful and appreciative comment !
Date: 4/3/2022 1:06:00 AM
All the world is a stage and we are actors. Great poem'.
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 9:02:00 AM
Yes, Victor, we are all actors. Once the curtain falls, we have to exit out !
Date: 4/3/2022 12:30:00 AM
Life can be like a trecharous ocean and sometimes we feel we are adrift at its mercy. But it's true, we look for inspiration from those before us who have found calm waters. Well written and inspirational Valsa. Enjoy your day. Tom
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 9:01:00 AM
Yes, we get inspired by going through the experiences of those gone ahead of us and understanding how they faced difficult situations in life and became successful ! Thanks a lot dear Tom for your gracious comment !
Date: 4/2/2022 9:20:00 PM
Yes, India offers more human resource folk for free talking therapy. But writing is mine. I lived " Himalayan heights ... (TO) nadir I'd despair." My other solution: meditation on black Holes in the universe, a meditation on death too
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 8:58:00 AM
True .... ! Here people connect with each other and talk freely. So if a person is depressed, he is likely to voice it out to people willing to listen and get a kind of relief ! Thank you Anil brother !
Date: 4/2/2022 8:07:00 PM
Very well done
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Valsa George
Date: 4/3/2022 8:54:00 AM
Thanks a lot Jeff !

Book: Reflection on the Important Things