Wednesday, November 19, 2014

SOME WORDS ARE BEST NOT LEFT TO OTHERS



EULOGY
I spoke in my eulogy
of the life I live
and broke the back of silence,
knowing that times for change
are always inconsistent.
Live for today,
yesterday’s life was different,
tomorrow’s life is certain to come
for some same as is when you’re no one,
among the entire population of individual someone’s.

Speaking of my own eulogy
I may not be accurate to perception
but it is honest in reflection
on a life lived with little violence,
trusts not broken until they needed be.
I do not like funerals anymore,
never did
even though attendance was mandatory for some
and others who had to live through the rituals
of laughter and tears,
never liked weddings for the same reasons.
Too many broken hearts wherever one travels
unless you travel alone
where there can only be minimal breakage.

I haven’t quite gotten to the point in my eulogy
where I know for certain if it best as the curtain rises
to be standing amidst a little blood and glass
or mounds and rivers of it.
Christ may know, but I do not;
which is the second line on my death stone.
 My generation said love was all you need,
I believed that until I tried to ease my bellies pain
and found that stomach’s get lonely too.

I have a life and I am living it.
Christ may know, but I do not.
© M Durfee
11.19.2014

18 comments:

  1. I used to wish there was a reset button on life, like with video games. But I guess the point of life is that there's no such thing as a reset.

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    1. Charles and what exactly would you reset, you're only where you are because of where you have been. Change one small step and you may just be another homeless veteran.

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  2. At the end, living at peace with yourself and your choices are all that matters ~ Living our life one day at the time is all we have right now ~

    You asked me in my post why I study ~ I study for a professional designation, and its a title I want to put after my name ~ Call it pride, but I want to prove that I have the chops still (and I am not that young anymore, smiles) ~

    Have a good week Mark ~

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    1. Grace in your first line is the answer to why i never went the initials after my name route. But it is a different situation in a way. Here, in Detroit, I know at least 3-4 dozen people who went after and attained that MFA, chased it, worked for it, sacrificed for it, and it changed them added a level of superficiality to their understanding of why we write, why we took up the challenge of walking around with an open chest.

      I am not demeaning them, because i think eventually they will all get back to reality and remember that simply because you know language does not ensure you fame or a living will come from it. I have chops, pork, mutton, lamb and one time almost had an ax chop, but fortunately i missed.

      Follow your own path Grace it is the only one that is right for you.

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  3. Mark, I want some contentment for you. Why does it continue to be so hard? You are a gifted man, talented with a rosary of words. You have a family. You know bullshit when you see it so no need to waste time. We are old enough to be wise enough about so much deceit and folly, but there is beauty to be had. I want you to know that too

    Love
    Ms rosey eyes

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    1. kj I could go on for a long time about contentment. I am content enough, enlightened enough to know that even though i may not have walked always the way i wanted or accomplished what I wanted when I should have, I still know there is a reason I am here where i am still. That is contentment, it doesn't have to be agreeable my friend only without great anger, which I do not have anymore.

      I know beauty. But that is even more of a concept than contentment and everyone judges it differently.

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  4. To stand amidst blood and glass. I know that feeling.

    I think your poetry should be studied, my friend. There is so much to feel in it.

    Pearl

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    1. Pearl, you're right my poetry should be studied. Even negative examples of how not to do something can accomplish some good! {;-[p}} No one escapes without a shattered heart at least once.

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  5. I agree on the not liking funerals...but not many can, can they? And it seems backwards to me...this celebrating of a life when the life is over instead of celebrating a life while it's in progress.

    We've all had our share of pain. Some take responsibility for the pain they've caused, others don't...and maybe that's where wisdom is born - in the blood and the glass. Thankfully, some, like you, Mark, share that hard-won wisdom beautifully...if painfully.

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    1. Right on about the celebrate a person while they are alive -- it does cut down on the grief at their passing on and allows you time to remember what you added to and took away from their life which are the reasons funerals for me are never about the guy in the box but what can be given to them crying over the box.

      Pain, if we never felt it, never rectified what we have done to cause it in others then we have to have hope Kim, hope that we have time to correct that misstep of neglect. Better to take care of it asap than let embarrassment or anger hold you back heh?

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  6. So, I decided to take a look around the blogosphere and see how some of my old pals are doing and the first two I visit are all about death and dying. Crap... no, I'm not dead yet, just having too much fun for someone my age. Hope all is well Mark.

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    1. Carelton, of all the internet people i have 'met" you are the one I know is always up to something new or old but always entertaining.

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  7. {{{hugs}}} WM,

    It's been awhile, I know. It's such a comfort to visit and know you're still writing posts. I'm about to take down my Blogger blog (I transferred everything to my site: la-mitchell.com) this past year, and I didn't want to lose contact with anyone. I have you now in my Feedly app so I can read you on a regular basis and comment. I hope you'll find time to visit/resubscribe/link up with me, too. Best wishes :)

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    1. Hey Laura, i was a bit surprised when I saw you had moved from way down the blog list an posted---I linked your web page. Looks like you found a niche to fill. I hope it's all working out for you and that you even get to publish your own work under your own name. Be Well as usual.

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  8. It's good to have a life and live it--no sense in not feeling and not doing while still alive. Funerals become more and more part of life for us as we get older. Not much fun but a part of life now.

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    1. No one can say i am not living my life syd, just not quite the way i would prefer at the moment. *shrug* Funerals---simply too many to even contemplate over the past 60 years. Though go to enough of them and you lose your fear of dying.

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So Walking Man I was thinking...