Best Aurelius Poems
"Amid the jagged shadows of mossy leafless boughs"- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Encompassed by autumn's gloam
Naked limbs reach for the sky
But it's just the season in which they call home
As they endure till spring is nigh
In the tangled obscurity of distant thought
We may find our season of gloom
Lost within memories the winds have brought
From melancholy to the joy of a spring bloom
These sentiments are not rooted in the mind
But float freely as through them we browse
And answers we seek we may yet find,
"Amid the jagged shadows of mossy leafless boughs"
11-26-19
Writing Challenge 3, November - Any Form
Sponsor: Dear Heart - Wiishkobi Ode
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
-- Marcus Aurelius --
Written: February 16, 2024
"Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought".
Quote by Marcus Aurelius
_______________________________________
We remain drawn to places we recognize well.
A mirage of lovely sights where dreams swell.
Rumbling rain clouds—odd swirls—rise at the pond.
Whirling thrill, an ecstatic genesis, swirling beyond.
Standing face to face, level with the moon.
Do poets and stargazers witness novel swoons?
In fierce verdict, the moon has closed its eyes.
If the sun stops beaming, how will moonlight arise?
The clouds cover the stars, and ideas sparkle.
Moon may decode terms by light dots in partial
You may be a flame or a mirror; both emit light.
Yet a flame must endure, rambling as glass blight.
Never shall the sun set, nor the moon rise.
Now it's time to detect without any prize.
Return the favor to those who wronged me.
Pursuing revenge, this tale is timeless history.
There is an outcome to every deed.
We are bound by Newton's laws of flow heed.
Entrails broken down resolve the algorithm.
Gaze upon your rambling in the same rhythm.
Sample my gilded projectile—hear the blast.
That inspires fear and mystery—peace is the cast.
Witness the radiant beams piercing overnight.
That stumbles in the blink—of an eyesight.
They draw to ramble in the void space.
With shades of deep, melancholic grace.
Antagonism elicits rambling to grow and thrill.
A mute bird flies and glides in their quill.
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
Quote By: Marcus Aurelius
Tinted in hues that I never imagined
this pilgrim soul has ventured farther then ever before
together as one encumbered with deeds unexplained
claiming the winds of change as culprits and friends;
I plucked out strange thoughts like plums from a tree
thanking the summers of June for their warmth
choosing fruition of imagination over logical thought
and as the polar lights of my mind ignited,
I watched in childlike wonder as a levitation of color arose
in my heart .
Deepening Dusk
by Odin Roark
How might this relentless approach of final darkness
present its final moments before curtain?
The acts have been rewarding,
even as the protagonist and antagonist
missed some cues,
made a few false entrances,
and at times confused the audience
of only me.
Thankfully…
My catwalk view
where having long ago embraced
Gordon Craig’s Uber-Marionette concept,
his self-aware-life-enactment
being simultaneously puppet and puppeteer,
prepared me well for the Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations:
“All of us are creatures of a day;
the rememberer and the remembered alike.
The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything,
And the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you.”
Such is the synchronous epiphany
with a drama’s final curtain
allowing a moment’s pause
before one’s inner-house lights
illumine yet another transition,
from “what if” to “what is” to “what might be”.
Hopefully the staging of one’s mirrored life
becomes companionable for the journey back home,
that place in one’s mind
where comforts remain tenuous
by often reluctant acceptance,
when overcoming challenges
is beyond one’s ability.
Yet…
To prepare for the final unpredictable,
when one’s deepening dusk
no longer finds the stage lit,
when illusion and delusion applaud together
the finished performance of one’s choices,
one’s experiences delineated into one’s
inner-monologue of truth.
“Pass, then, through this little space of time
in harmony with nature and end thy journey in contentment,
just as an olive falls off when it is ripe,
blessing nature who produced it,
and thanking the tree on which it grew.”
Marcus Aurelius
Each morning I'm thankful to heavens divine
Because I’m blessed to see an early morning sunrise
Wake up! Sleeping eyes
And then I woke up to reality
This is another day that God breathe life into me
So therefore no complaints today, I’m alive and happy
The thoughts in my head are heavy from dreaming
I’m groggy from another restless night of sleeping
Today I will hold myself together through the good and bad
I have to not let anyone steal my joy and make me mad
Please don’t rush me; I know it’s time to get up
My regular routines are shower, shave, brush teeth, and then get my coffee cup
Every single morning I have to wear this smile
Because I know this world is hostile
To me every morning is a new beginning
Living every one hour of the day is a blessing
We’re privileged and fortunate to see the beauty that shines each day
I want to thank you Lord for this blissful day
Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. — Marcus Aurelius
Now that your eyes are open, make the sun jealous with your burning passion to start the day. Make the sun jealous or stay in bed. — Malak El Halabi
Imagination Says, A New Vagabond I Shall Be
Longing for beauty, I walk amidst the flowers
An olden warrior, free from fallen towers
Yet soul in me, glorious peace simply cannot find
For lonesome heart weeps deeply into troubled mind
In a moment, eyes spot a hungry little bee
Gathering its load, mindless of the lonesome me
Lost in a new world, ruled by this unruly heart
I realize this, how that little bee is so smart.
With newfound knowledge, being busy is the golden key.
Onward I trek, renewed spirit resting within me.
With heart that has from its unrelenting pains found its relief.
All this beauty surrounding- releases this soul from grief.
For prison chains have been broken, redemption has found me.
Imagination says, a new vagabond I shall be.
Robert J. Lindley, 6-08-2022
Rhyme
Personal Note:
Waking from an afternoon dream,
After my reading my newfound book, titled
Plato, Epictetus , Marcus Aurelius from The
Harvard Classics, Deluxe Edition, I had this
moment of clarity, a voice said- now write,
Please do something that is not so Sad and Dark.
My muse laughed, and then far away she fled.
Next to my front porch I very hurriedly went
Could this composing truly be its own blessing,
By a stroke of dreaming, precious time well spent?
Quote: Emily Dickinson-
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.”
Marcus Aurelius > Quotes
1. “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
? Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
2. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
? Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
3. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
? Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
To Me
To me she is beautiful
A demonic angel in black and white
To me she is delusional
She sees a Zebra but on a moonless night
To me she is exceptional
I've never met her equal
To me she is too ethical
She'd make Marcus Aurelius quail
To me she is a stripper
She stripped my heart bare and nailed it to the rock
To me she is a gangster
A tougher man than many with a cock
To me she is a poet
She turns words into knives that tear me up
To me she is a guru
She showed me the light, by breaking it up.
To me she is a child
Stands with a fist at a hard hard world
To me she is a woman
Stands as the priest at my heart's burial
“The universe is transformation; life is opinion.” ~~Marcus Aurelius~~
He was the last of the five, good Roman emperors. His reign was one of great tranquility….he has symbolized the….“Golden Age of the Roman Empire”
for many generations in the West.
you may not like it
this is the way the world is
let the good times roll
acceptance is your gift
changing the unchangeable
is grief and madness
life is your journey
transformation is to know
that you do not know
our minds just run us
answers are the booby prize
serve others with joy
2/26/2023
A stretched gloaming tethers creation in a
daystar's wake ... askew parts The Old Guitarist
ebbing lambent stars strung to a yarn of spring ...
'Tis the volley of calendrical crasis
poised to a youthful Einstein that subtracts from
the sum and substance whence summer makes a splash ...
The advent of an enchanting star dulls a
chant that the Khanate only stains upon its
Golden Horde smolders beneath befriending clouds ...
A whiff that slights Aurelius' bearings yet
still trifles a chalk absence to the presence
of cheese that embellishes the languid tracing ...
The shallow space of bards decreed a crowning
flock of teary favoring san tissues of
lissome verdancy choral ode vibrant charms ...
Worshipped effervescent microscopic dew
bringing into being just one bell prayers
bearing fruits of promise in globule water ...
Petrichor emanates to a hoverance
wisp claim as wandering brevity stands still
amidst a sonder of souls ventured threshold ...
Gold beams glimpsed a bevy coup of a vast crest
as the dripping stalled in evaporating
stares chase a clinked rainbow flaunts with ... creation.
Emperor of Rome, in a time of peace,
Marcus Aurelius filled with pride.
Steadfast in his stoic belief,
in virtue alone does he abide.
The school of righteous thinking,
Zeno of Citium, in three hundred B.C.
Emotionless throughout the painted stoa,
Learned philosophers for all to see.
Men of value and high status,
suppression of feelings so unknown.
From poorest slave to rich monarch,
intelligence carved from common stone.
The greatest thinkers of their time,
Cicero met his death with dignity.
Over looking a quiet golden sunset,
enjoying his last vision of divinity.
“The universe is transformation; life is opinion.”
~~Marcus Aurelius~~
Marcus Aurelius was the last of the five, good Roman
emperors. His reign was one of great tranquility….he
has symbolized the….“Golden Age of the Roman Empire”
……..for many generations in the West!
you may not like it
this is the way the world is
let the good times roll
acceptance is your gift
changing the unchangeable
is grief and madness
life is your journey
transformation is to know
that you do not know
our minds just run us
answers are the booby prize
serve others with joy
12/5/2022
*Acknowledgement to Elena Eagle*
for notifying me of spelling error that
was in the title.
Correction made at 7:45 am 12/5/2022
Sincere apologies to all M
Ever since birth anxious lived in me
anxious was the cause of my stammer
or did my stammer make me anxious
certainly, nothing made me calmer
The thought of school life, oh dear!
every day there certainly I did hate
tension-filled my air that I felt
I asked myself is this my fate?
Then into the world of work
speaking to many of every kind
every time my tongue so anxious
anxious for my life I signed
Now retired really first class
don't need to speak only if asked
control all anxious thoughts
now covid says wear your mask!
(This is my thoughts on my life of anxiety)
(Quote:
"Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions - not outside" - Marcus Aurelius)
Lucius,Livia, Aurelius
Commodus,
Chica de Silva
InPlautus, Meretrix
Drusilla.
Days were they stood proud
speaking of days gone by
talking in laugages few
understood
which Meadows aren't Casears
Since all beneath the sun is God's
and every tounge that worships
does so from the blessings of
Casears
they speak to be there understood
there tougnes are words
Familiar to those study them
who so ever hearest the voices
Must praise Casears
they must speak of the
glorious workings of God
All beneath heaven shall
speak of Casears as the only
God.
Such commandeth Casear!
Hail Casear! Hail Casear!
Hey watermelon how you doing
We're your seeds
What them people doing
Ain't got no ripe
But the melons fresh
Past the salt
Study your test
Contest the seeds
If you dare
Wipe up the floor
Act like you care
"Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thoughts." (Marcus Aurelius)
In certain moments, less is more.
It's regarded as a cliche,
but when you think hard about it,
it is true in many cases.
I'm not thinking in terms of wealth-
in certain moments, less is more.
Imagine a boring topic,
now someone rambles on about-
tax refunds, software management-
a bacterial infection.
In certain moments, less is more.
It will benefit everyone.
Think back to middle and high school-
your math teacher talking about
their lunch, then algebra, then pens.
In certain moments, less is more.
"Their cross will decay
Rome will be as a phoenix
Helios will reign supreme"
"The sun always sets
Accept the eagle’s old age
Find dominion in your mind"