The present, interminable present,
though seeming to linger forever,
said the sage, is but a fleeting moment,
which, once gone, once flown, can never
return, no matter what effort, the event
to now, this second, this minute, this hour.
The present, the pleasurable present,
like an athlete, fleet and mighty of feet,
can a marathon make, with excitement,
by sheer speed seem a hundred metre heat;
soon forgot, the vanquished participant
in memory will linger defeat.
The past truly is forever,
with memories put out to pasture,
some to forget and some to remember;
nostalgia a flashback seesaw
even time, the great healer, cannot cure;
the past endures, the future is unsure.
The future, the uncertain future,
its aspirations are the placenta
which embryo of nascent dreams nurture
in faith, the amniotic water,
in the cervix of hope till desire
sires with love and with labour
the now, before later becomes after.
Youth, brash youth, makes a bold statement,
believing itself heaven-sent,
oft-time appears rash and irreverent;
age, reserved, with syncopated accent
expresses a sentient sentiment
sometimes tinged with regret and resentment.
Young men use strength,
old men use art, a wise old man once said.
Young men measure the length
while they count the ways,
with might and mane they forge fearless ahead;
old men measure the breadth
and number the days
as they ruminate more and more on the dead.
Copyright ©2001 by G. Newton V. Chance
- G. NEWTON V. CHANCE
- George Newton Vivian Chance (Trinidad and Tobago) -- member of the Poet Society of Trinidad and Tobago, http://poetssocietytt.blogspot.com/ and the World Poets Society, http://world-poets.blogspot.com/ -- born in Tobago on 3rd March 1957. While residing at Rio Claro was inspired to write over a hundred poems at the turn of the Millennium. Hobbies include playing wind instruments, building computers, observing nature, reading and writing poetry. Believes that the power of a song is in its ability to evoke emotions by the marriage of lyric and music but that music without lyric can be just as powerful, that lyric without music can also be just as powerful, that there is music in the lyric and that lyric can be simple yet profound. Also, in this the age of computers, would like to model his lines after simple and efficient code and, analogous to Object Oriented Programming, achieve most of his imagery from nouns and verbs, avoiding the bloat and excess of unnecessary adjectives. This is what he aspires to attain in his poetry.
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