Arias carry me along the sea
a thought drifted on timber inspirations
and ripples of mistakes
no muse to show the way
—-no trail in the endless deep
—-unaware of the drink, the drift
leading still beneath the sun
a projection of bare foot
longing for the stories
sunsets never told.
“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” ~Samuel Beckett
Success may be the human imperative, but it is failure–and the way we deal with it–that makes us human. All people fail. Unless they have somehow managed to scare themselves up a genie and gotten themselves the perfect wish life (and how often do THOSE end well, hm?), at some point you’re not going to succeed. Chalk it up to bad luck (I do, often enough), or self shortcomings, or the world itself come to get you, but it’s a fact we can’t change.
One can take the news gracefully, or they can take it with their own hair clenched so tight in their hands they’ll be bald within the month. Think you’ll rock the bald and proud look? If not, then start working on those breathing exercises. Failure is natural precisely because we are human. We don’t see every potential outcome, particularly going into a new scenario, and we certainly can’t plan for everything. In time, experience will allow us to broaden our knowledge for preparation, but experience is itself built on a mound of failures.
As they say, people don’t learn from success.
Failure, however, builds a hunger in us. Embarrassment, certainly, but also a burning drive not to repeat that embarrassment–to overcome. It hones our mind to a purpose, and allows us to grow as individuals. Without failure, we would be less as people. And it hurts, I know, but people hurt. We feel pain.
Unless we’ve indulged a bit too much in the morphine. (Ending now, before this metaphor gets too out of whack.)
“If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out.”
~Rabindranath Tagore
Pellucid peyote visions
strike evanescent evocations of eagles
caught in flight, failing
on the wild winds–
it hisses as their haggard drop
and rushes up to greet them.
They say success
never tastes so sweet
without the sour hors d’oeuvre
of failure’s bounty;
were I but once
to taste the former
I might have some basis
to compare.
* My latest contribution to the wonderful One Shot Poetry Wednesdays! If you get the chance, be sure to check out all the other talented One Stop poets posting there – and what about yourself? If you haven’t signed up yet, and you’re among the creative…what are you waiting for?
Downtrodden disaster
Dragging destitute through dirty drives,
The ice has broken through
And the hole is widening
As the whole is dividing
This trek, all too familiar
Along this arctic road
Is better left to
Colder men than I.
It’s breaking—
Broken, gone
Everything is cracking
At the seams—
Deep diving through the murk.
Heavy breaths hang
A crystallized admission
But no matter the passing
These burdens never lighten.
My latest contribution to the wonderful One Shot Poetry Wednesdays! Once you’ve had a look, check out some of the other One Shot Poets as well– they’re a skilled bunch of poets, looking to form a community and support one another. Enjoy!
I’m waiting on a light
That may never arrive;
I’m grabbing at the stars
And catching only dust.
Every moment builds into
Another moment lost
And still I wait,
Humming in the night,
As though the world will shine on me
In my ceaseless indolence.
Dreams unravel
It is reality waiting
Not this fiction I have woven
Into this false world.
The Waking Den 