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Victorclaude

Nov 01, 2010 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

being born (a poem for the obdurate)

kill what you don't understand
annihilate what you cannot control
deplete your resources
murder even the water,
trees, and rocks
you would kill the stars if you could
but reach them
you act like your heart was torn out
as a child

now you cannot steal enough
kill enough --
or cause enough pain
to fill the void where your
heart once was

lay down your arms for the rest
of us
and forego your vengeance for
being born.

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

Favorite Poets: Wallace Stevens, D. H. Lawrence, Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Percy Bysshe Shelley, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, Pablo Neruda, Joni Mitchell, William Shakespeare, Basho, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kelly Marie Hayner, Susan Wydville. D. Phillip Caron, Elizabeth Bishop.

Comments

mand

14 years 8 months ago

Very powerful

I particularly like the last stanza and the expression, "you act like your heart was torn out as a child".

plenty to think about with this captivating poem.

Love Mand xxxxxx

Victorclaude

14 years 8 months ago

Thank you, Mand.

Sometimes, I just wish I didn't see this stuff, but I guess I can't help it, then things like this step out of my head onto the page.

Anyway, thanks again.

Victor

Victorclaude

14 years 8 months ago

My dear Shirley,

Would that there weren't wickedness or wrongdoing . . . As long as we are wishing, would that there were nothing but joy, at least for a day, just for a break.

Thank you, Darling!!

Victor

Geezer

14 years 8 months ago

Only one little tweak...

and it's a matter of personal taste. You use the word murder twice. I always try to use another word after the first use. Maybe try destroy, something like: "destroy what you cannot control." Great work though. ~ Geezer

Victorclaude

14 years 8 months ago

Hey, Geezer --

I heard you on your suggestion and I changed murder to annihilate. I do and don't like the ring to it. This poem even freaks me out, because there are real people out there who act just like I described them.

Scary . . .

Thanks,

Victor

Victorclaude

14 years 8 months ago

Rosina,

Thank you very kindly.

Victor

Bonitaj

14 years 8 months ago

Being born ...

Liked the title with it's bracketted clause... in simpler terms - "living among the stubborn"!
Very powerful write - a plea for clemency and a recognition of the pain born by those who resent being here!
good to read your stuff! will keep an eye out for it!
THanks
Bonita j

judyanne

14 years 8 months ago

powerful

i have nothing more to say
i am left with one of those stunned silences in my head
'lay down your arms for the rest
of us
and forego your vengeance for
being born.' - just totally brings me undone.

love judy
xxxx