How many sands have you counted
building castles near the shoreline,
which the sea washes away
before the day is done?
Alas, you build them again and again
unmindful of the raging waves
and the wild winds
blasting away those paradigms~
before your hands could shape
the towers in your mind;
As if there were no waves~
As if there were no winds.
Every castle you built
scattered in the shifting sands,
yet your dreams perpetuated ~
like the course of the river
resolutely pushing
though drought hinders
its way to reach the sea;
Like the flight of the eagle
endlessly flying
amidst the chancy sky.
Having waited for long after hard laboring,
Tilling, planting, manuring and irrigating;
Keeping stray animals away from grazing them,
Protecting them from dangers, as though, costly gem;
Treating the illnesses of better-half who's weak,
Pleasing the moods of kids, who fun and frolics seek;
Eating sometimes; evading timely food, often,
Pleading the money-lenders their hearts to soften;
Weeding the field frequently when it's so needed,
Cleansing, spraying pesticides when it's thus weeded;
Drizzles, hailstones and storms visit the fields, betwixt,
Tending the fallen plants, he gets the problems fixed;
Thus, midst mounting temptations and tribulations,
When his hopes reach their zenith of expectations;
Floods unforeseen, when whole year's livelihood destroy,
He stands calm, yet, facing forces of pain and joy...!
15 March 2022
He took me fishing.
Meaning,
I cast and fouled
my fishing reel
in rapid succession,
forgetting to thumb break,
creating snarled messes,
rending the whole thing
unusable.
He swapped
his gear for mine,
untangled the abortion
I’d created,
handed me back
an operational rod,
just as I messed up
again.
Rinse.
Repeat.
He never once
scowled or
raised his voice.
When we got back to the house,
Granny asked how fishing went.
Paw-paw smiled,
“Wonderfully.”
----------
for the "Pick-a-Title" Poetry Contest
sponsored by Edward Ibeth
title chosen: 1. Longanimity
written on 03/14/2022
When storm brews in the yonder horizon hazy,
wild winds surge dark cloud across the smoky sky,
sailing steady on the old boat with unsinkable hope,
the ancient mariner in me endures the torment of toil.
When the torrential rain pours from the falling sky,
the deluge descends on the landscape of my life,
my morose mind drowns in the flood of despair,
I face the plight with fortitude and forbearance.
When the frail body suffers in the abyss of disease,
the despondent mind senses the beginning of the end,
I walk patiently the last mile that waits to be traversed,
and envisage the garden pathway I strolled in cheerful days.
When the assigned time reaches the edge of twilight hour,
the darkness of dusk designs the desolation shadows,
I see sparkling stars sprout in night’s moonlit crown,
for the new sunrise of bliss I wait with longanimity.
___________________
March 5, 2022
Title Chosen : Longanimity
Contest : Pick-A-Title, Vol 29
Sponsored by : Edward Ibeh