poised at the beginning of my ninth decade,
somehow surviving all that came before.
I am not ready to rage at darkness
or the end of days.
I would rather take your hand,
to walk along a woodland trail,
knowing this simple act connects
us all, the round of seasons
blending past with now
and what will come.
Image by Vincenzo Modica from Pixabay
Today's poetry challenge from David Brewer at Writer's Digest, a consistently wonderful resource for writers, is simply to write a response poem to another poem. Before even reading today's prompt, I woke up this morning thinking about poems that I read so very long ago. Robert Frost and Dylan Thomas were my favorites.
What a contrast between Robert Frost's ending stanza in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
and Dylan Thomas' beginning lines in "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night":
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
So, my poem came from rereading these two poems. Both seem to hint at what we think about when confronted by death, that of loved ones, ourselves, and, in these war-torn times, the deaths of strangers.
For more inspiration for your own writing, see David Brewer's poetry prompts for April HERE. The complete poem for Robert Frost is at the Poetry Foundation and for Dylan Thomas, at allpoetry.com, which also includes a recording of his poem, which was written his father was going blind.
What a contrast between Robert Frost's ending stanza in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
and Dylan Thomas' beginning lines in "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night":
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
So, my poem came from rereading these two poems. Both seem to hint at what we think about when confronted by death, that of loved ones, ourselves, and, in these war-torn times, the deaths of strangers.
For more inspiration for your own writing, see David Brewer's poetry prompts for April HERE. The complete poem for Robert Frost is at the Poetry Foundation and for Dylan Thomas, at allpoetry.com, which also includes a recording of his poem, which was written his father was going blind.
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