Poem and Persuasion

A short break from P&P for another Austen Classic
           Though Anne Elliot graces the pages of a different Austen novel, I think she is right when the novel comments, "She thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly."
           I'm not much of a poet but it's easiest to read and write when in one of two extremes: either deliriously ecstatic or profoundly melancholy. With that said, here is something I wrote last spring. It tends towards something Captain Benwick might enjoy. That is before he meets Louisa Musgrove.

Time and Tribute
By Alexandra Harmening

Time marches past,

A greedy tyrant.

“You think you’re busy now. Ha!”

They say, “Wait Until.”  

Time marches past,

Collapsing infinite possibility

Into one swift reality,

Absorbing precious bits of eternity

With tasks and choices. Steadily,

I mourn. Goodbye to creativity.

So long my sleepy daydreams.

Busy is the name of my god.

At his throne I pay tribute:

Emails, errands, exams.

Sacrifices of freedom, rest and sanity,

All in the name of productivity.

But my lord promises me rest eventual.

That grass turns greener right over near hill.

After this assignment

or through that door

just as soon as this thing finishes

once that job’s completed,

A rest will come.

The madness ends.

But I’m beginning to think it never does.

Time’s troops will not halt.

Not Until

         All your tribute is gone,

Not Until

        The madness has seeped up inside you,

Not Until

        You lie in your bed,

Not Until

        You wake up dead.