Had I Not Dared Break Free Or It Break Me
Had I not dared break free or it break me
would an unhappy soul have never sang
or songbird's nest grace willing willow tree
or prairie not fed herds of wild mustang.
Had I known, life too oft, becomes a joke
that Christmas snowmen far, far too soon melt
if farmer's fresh virgin ground never broke
and dawn's awakening in tired bones felt.
Can one ever know, why nights are oft feared
morn's clear calls are refused, even dreaded
as if dawn's open arms have disappeared
and its embrace is somehow wrongheaded.
Had I never climbed that first tall oak tree
Who or what on this earth would I now be?
Robert J. Lindley , 8-19-2017
Sonnet,( Why our children must dare to first do)
Did I hear them sing Hosanna, yesterday?
What did you drunk them on
For the passover feast is not real alcohol
Did you call them to repentance too
So they before your heaven comes
Could settle old scores with you?
No priest nor prelate told them
The meaning of the covenant you made
They just said: change, yes, we can
That said that before drowning in the desert sands
Piling manna and largesse in Pharaoh's hands
That was the only difference
This variation strange to them
This separation between you and God
This wrongheaded experiment
I vomit with the dying Quayles
I cannot foreclose the callous serpents
Biting at my heels
All day long across the dictionary of my rage
I ponder our crucifixion, and our age
So shallow, so shallow and unforgiving
Men we are impelled by sin, we can surrender
But we cannot change, we cannot change
The history of the multitude that littered the desert floor.
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.