Never meet your heroes, lest they fail your expectation
Resulting in the crest that's fallen down from that elation
Experienced upon neglecting self-examination
Overlooking what it took to gain this elevation
Failure first
Makes you humble.
The deeper the sting,
The greater the revelation.
Release the need
To assign someone blame.
Accept it as your own
To expunge your searing shame.
Guilty Pride will mask and hide
The truth of your shortcomings.
Don’t indulge in its deceitful lie.
It shuts the door to self-examination.
Revelation is the real and only forgiveness.
It provides a second chance for you to try.
Without Its Grace, redemption remains
Locked away in a distorted and hateful lie.
You are enough.
You can succeed.
Shift your mind’s muddled perspective.
Let Failure take you by the hand,
And lead you to new heights of revelation.
We drift, unaware—
years merge into moments,
promises fall by the wayside, collect dust.
If we could backtrack every decision,
each fault line of our days,
would we discover we really lived
or just shuffled in place?
Human life is one of His sublime creations.
Blessed life is entangled in the clutches of relations.
Diametric elements often co-exist.
Dragon bees and sweet honey exist at one hive.
The seven sins pride, wrath, lust, avarice,
Envy, gluttony and sloth consume souls.
Excessive pride of Icarus led to his downfall.
Blake’s ‘A poison Tree’, about wrath is an eye-opening.
Fall of Troy, envy of Shylock, avarice of King Midas teach us good lessons
Gluttony leads to ugly and shameful body posture.
Sloth pushes into procrastination of doings.
Try to overcome.
No need to encipher the secrets of scriptures
And no need to chant magical words.
Let's unmask our consciences and provide space for introspection.
We can get insight and rebuild our behavior.
Self-Examination is the best practice.
Let's be aware of what we think, speak and do.
Managing emotions builds our decorum
Right perception builds right personality.
Refining consciousness is mandatory to get rid of all impurities.
Placed: 6th
Refining consciousness Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Unseeking Seeker
Date: 01-05-2023
"There is strength in silence."
Anthony Douglas Williams
Nothing heard.
Such a deafening hush
can frighten some people.
Quiet has its intrinsic goodness.
Consider careless musicians
who ignore the rests in music.
Nothing said.
Ask a Quaker,
to explain the settled silence
which they practice in worship.
Listening for the still, small voice
can be a fruitful time of self-examination.
Nothing needed
except the curious word, Selah.
Selah is an expression often found
in the Psalms of King David.
Why is it used and what does it mean -
pause to ponder.
March 22, 2023
sponsor: Constance La France
contest: Writing Challenge - N Words
always questions always apprehensions
in the process of getting through this life
begins with stunning realization
there is more to this universe than I
flows through doubt and self-examination
into a struggle to simply get by
following rules truly all that there is
why not search for something much more than this
try to find meaning within existence
beyond the needs for basic subsistence
reach for some form of common human cause
beyond doubs tears fears and need for applause
seeking that which is right which is most wise
avoiding the urge to antagonize
It’s so important to practice what you preach
Although you might not realize you are at fault,
Self-examination appears to be beyond your reach.
Hypocrites are notoriously taken for a grain of salt
Seeing in others what you cannot see in yourself,
Although you might not realize you are at fault.
Take your Holy Bible down from its topmost shelf
Study the Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule
Seeing in others what you cannot see in yourself.
Being two-faced leaves you open to abject ridicule
Folks won’t give to your soliloquies much respect
Study the Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule.
Being double-tongued folks will have come to expect
Your words do not match your observable behavior,
Folks won’t give to your soliloquies much respect.
Please don’t try to manipulate by quoting the Savior
It’s so important to practice what you preach,
Your words do not match your observable behavior
Self-examination appears to be beyond your reach.
Written June 23, 2022
MIRRORS
face to face
expressions
of nature
emboldened
to catch
& explore
a singular
intensity
of
self examination
so
stimulating
looking
&
confront us
with crucial
selfhood
perturbed
its
surrounding status
&
credibility
crumbling
NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE without grammatical symbols the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and respond thus making the form a two way interplay and often a unique interpretation by the enigma so derived
Effective self-examination can be time-consuming
and painful, sometimes revealing that challenging
changes are required of me. These growing pains, even--
or perhaps especially—at my age, are necessary,
From "Contemplation"--posted in March '21
May 29, 2021
entered in the Liberum Divisa 6 Contest
Sponsor: Gregory Barden
Speak silently with all sincerity in my soul,
Lifting my lonely life, I leave to you my ever-loving Lord;
Shalom surrounds me as I sing praises to the Sovereign Savior,
Living in lockdown for long, may my loneliness no more!
Guarantee of God’s grandiose gift after grueling trial is glee,
Solitude is for self-meditation, I savour sufficiently... for
Self-examination and sanctification of my spirit stained slovenly.
April 14,2021 2.12pm
Judged: April 23,2021
Place: 1
Sponsor: JCB Brul
Contest: Solitude in Alliteration
I've had many heated conversations with . . . myself
over how a circumstance, or life itself, should be perceived.
My best time for self-probing is late at night.
Even now (in my sixties), I lean toward idealism.
Reality--not killjoy, but counselor--reminds me of
my boundaries. Opportunities to balance realism and
idealism have proven successful, warding off pessimism.
Pursuance of goals is still fueled by fire, but the flames
don’t leap so high as when I was young and vigorous.
Effective self-examination can be time-consuming
and painful, sometimes revealing that challenging
changes are required of me. These growing pains, even--
or perhaps especially—at my age, are necessary,
for life is not yet through with me.
I classify myself as the basically satisfied, often joyful
by-product of late-night contemplation.
March 9, 2021
entered in Craig Cornish's Contemplation Poetry Contest
Are you aware of who you are?
I don't think so, not so far,
Have you perceived the perfect you?
Have you ever surveyed the unseen?
How can you forget what has been said
Spirit of acceptance and flexibility is enlightenment
The belief and the fact are two different things
Leave unreal things and grab awareness
The thoughtless are deaf and dumb
Turn yourself towards critical analysis
Respect human body and start self examination
Face the truth like a man or tag yourself eunuch.
Lesson.1. Solution demands practice and practice requires extensive effort.
Lesson.2. The weather is the synopsis of climate changes.
Lesson.3. The Truth is always alone because it cannot compromise with lies.
Criticism
Written: by Miracle Man
5/28/2020
It’s often unsought and seldom fun,
and critique is rejected if harshly spoken.
Because words once spoken can’t be undone,
they often leave our vanity broken.
Self examination is what criticism is forcing,
by failing to listen our growth is small.
It doesn’t mean we agree and endorsing,
flattering attempts intended to enthrall.
i cannot stare too deep
into the game you're playing.
i cannot stand too close
to the dragon you're slaying.
erase the markings of
scars that have haunted
let love rule and flow
as a mighty river of truth
Betimes they’ve been sent
to speak
And when they spoke,
they were mocked
Oft times the holy messengers
did preach
the doctrine of self-examination:
How were you living,
was it idol loving you were giving?
Was it hate you were pig pity wallowing in,
was it naked lust covering your body of sin?
But the heralds of hope,
they were ridiculed
for asking others to speak honest truth
Light bearers put in dark dungeons
Baptized in pain
for trying to cleanse souls
Placed in chains
for wanting to make minds whole
Tortured bodies slain
for daring to monarch oppose
Their message of truth tho’ mocked
by most,
some salvation ears heard —
One lost sinner saved by another,
two atoned souls plucked from the flames
The message to forgive each other,
caused two repentant hearts to be changed
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.