“It is too late to shut the stable door when the steed is stolen.”
~ From John Heywood’s A Dialogue Containing the Number in Effect of All the Proverbs in the English Tongue (1546)
“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
~ From Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac (1746)
My mission is to go back to eighteen-seventy-nine.
I’ve been authorized to repair history’s design.
Luckily, I’ve been trained on a Woody’s Time Machine,
and granted poetic license, fate to intervene.
I’ve set the dial to Braunau am Inn, near the border
of Bavaria and Austria. I must prevent disorder.
I’ll play with history’s chessboard, move a couple pawns,
and introduce Klara Polzl to a man named Franz.
Franz needed a housekeeper, and Klara fit the bill.
So, until pigs fly, which they never did and never will,
Klara wouldn’t work for Alois. They’d not have a son,
and the world would be spared what their young Adolf had done.
As death draws near, we'll have reason to reflect.
At God's judgment, will we stand tall, free of defect?
If we could, would it be just the aftereffect
of a life lived for self, with pride’s introspect?
What did God ordain with the word, resurrect?
change, redirection from the dead, in effect.
There comes to the soul, a day when we're subject -
to guilt as a sinner, immoral, suspect.
We can put the blame on evil’s misdirect
but our faults we must own in circumspect
bond with the God-head, we no longer reject.
We rise to glorious grace as God’s chosen elect.
When you look around at the world
How do you know
If it’s correlation or causation in effect?
You don’t.
The only way to really objectively know
Is to subjectively know
Which means we don’t really know squat
About the larger world outside our bubble.
And this ambiguity
Leaves us open to suggestion and doubt
And manipulation and control
By those with more confidence.
The truth is, no one really knows
The workings of reality,
Whether what we see is correlation or causation,
But that has never stopped reality from working…
(7/21/25)
“Your thoughts are the architects of your destiny.” ? David O. McKay
****************************************************************
Architect of Our Destiny
As we tread along the journey of life
All may not turn round as we may expect,
It may be a long lane littered with strife,
A rugged road ranged with thorns, in effect
Where we need to strive and strive to survive.
We don’t need to give way to dull despair
But try to be master of our own fate,
We don`t need to yield to the ghost of scare
But roll up our sleeves to free success gate
And be architect of our destiny
With the shine of sincere serenity.
I’m walking through the rough roads,
Losing traction in my current situation.
There is no scheme or death trap,
It’s a springboard to my launchpad.
A stirring is taking place during this hour,
Disruption and shift are in motion.
It’s getting messy and uncomfortable,
I sense climate change is in effect.
Discouragement comes and goes,
But life won’t be full of woes.
Lately I’ve been stressing out,
I just hope it doesn’t take me out.
I’ve survived tough roads in the past,
So I know I’m built for this, and to last.
Another chance to grow and learn,
That’s what milestones make a major turn.
pharmacist counts pills
last one falls on floor
fifteen second rule in effect
History is history drawn by observation to attract
Up and down motion
The thought of the old Dinosaur Escalators at Macy’s Herald Square
The old fossil’s still work
It gets Macy’s customers from selling floor to selling floor
They still work for sure
I know, I worked at the Macy’s Herald Square Tower for 38 Years on the 13th Floor of the Corporate Executive Office
Those old escalators were established since Macy’s Herald Square was built in brick and mortal
I can assure you I am not a fixture, and wasn’t around when Macy’s Herald Square was put together
Let’s just say I made history working for Macy’s, but I could be considered a Legend
However, I was around during the real MIRACLE ON 34th of the
MACY’S and GIMBEL’S era
The old escalators are still in effect and they have history of their own
No mystery
The old escalators are tour attractions to see in being accompanied in Macy’s Herald Square past and current of old and new.
DEEP INSIDE A SHELL
With lyrics that do not connect
And no shiny surface to reflect
Odd choices one doesn’t expect
To get the meaning of that song
Perhaps you faked it far too long
All when living deep inside a shell
There’s no entitlement to respect
In messages that one can’t detect
It must be earned, albeit indirect
Can it be time to bang that gong
But just maybe I’ve got it wrong
All when living deep inside a shell
Talent that can be hard to detect
More a crouch than standing erect
Just the choice of words, in effect
Some of which just do not belong
Like one taking tricks in Mahjong
All when living deep inside a shell
Prepare
Stretch
Then lift
Dumbells and Barbells
Up and Down
Focus and Concentrate
Let a Personal Trainer illustrate
Pain and Gain
Results will show and remain
The mirror will show the proof through the efforts
Your clothes might become loose
Body Chemistry in effect
The better you
Exercise in follow through
This is what pumping iron is all about
You probably doubt
Pumping iron will work it out.
Never gave it a single seconds thought
What love in fact actually is
Why on earth would i
Merely just took it for granted
As I hope you did to
No need for word
The silent word is true perfection
Wins out and comes out hopefully
Because we actually do
Never ever questioned it at all
Neither did you thankfully either
That to me is my true definition
Of love after all
No hidden catch , No strings attached
Just Free - Love
A Bond
That only Death alone can break
But in effect all what that really does
Is make that bond grow even stronger
And last and live forevermore on
As some bond's such as love
Are unbreakable
If it is real and true love
You are lucky enough to have experienced
Otherwise how on earth would you know
You couldn't that simply isn't possible
Genesis
One hypothesis is according to
Theoretical Physicists
The origins beginning
Start of the know universe
How it expanded is
The Big Bang Theory
The greatest modern day minds and thinkers
Are currently studying fastidiously
In order to try and solve this puzzle
And hopefully discover answers
To be of some relevance or use today
The one thing I take personally
Out of or from this in particular Theory
Is and that makes perfect sense to me
In the present tense and world still today
Is the Big Bang was born out of a
Violent , cataclysmic , explosive
Event that descend and expanded
Into total and utter unbridled kaos
Which is pretty much the way
We as human beings live our lives today
The status quo remains
The same to this very day
So in effect we are back to the beginning
Nothing much has changed at all
Come to think of it
We haven't really moved on
Or progressed at all
Only time itself
Wiser far more knowledgeable supposably
Able to contemplate the complex
Yet seemingly still unable to
Solve and come up with solutions
To the simple state of the human condition
Taught
Fall down
Get up
Setbacks
Life learning
Discerning
Discipline
Fulfilling
Prospective
Hard Knocks guideline
Understanding
Putting one in the know
Process being slow
Tears
Advice
No coincidence
Day by Day
Week by Week
Year by Year
Month by Month
Buy and Buy
Functional into able
Being stable
Accepting with complex
Effort with every try
Ready to enter
Concept in effect
Sometimes a reject
Hard education
Life’s presentation
Stature
Negativity and Positivity
Full blown
Hard knocks
Over and out
actions performed
in as it so appears
are merely waves
enacting divine will
notice how waves shift
changing their contours
in effect without identity
indivisible from the ocean
04-June-2023
recognising that organic form will perish
and the thought of eternal life we cherish
we set out to explore if this could be true
which scriptures affirm if grace we accrue
enabled provided we stop the flow of time
in tranquil silence attuned to love's chime
essentially requiring that thoughts be still
in effect choosing to surrender egoic will
and so when imaginary identity fell away
we saw the absolute truth as clear as day
20-May-2023
freed development
on a rounded slope
innovative
desirous of improvement
sedate&steady
but
alive
in a manner
ready to break bounds
yet contemporary in effect
with imagination run wild
blended
with delicate colour
exquisite
graphics highly wrought
strange
&daring
translated
transcribed
views
naturalistic
inner visions
interpreted
intense
the prophetic derived
from reality
...revealed
JWM Turner tribute
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.