Don't Tell Me I Am Not Old
DON’T TELL ME I AM NOT OLD
Don’t tell me I am not old
And that I still can be young in spirit
In the winter cold it aches
And where is the returning to try yet again
When the years are gone
And the powers are not?
I didn’t know it
I didn’t see it
I became old when I wasn’t looking
And now that I am here
The fear of what is to come
Weighs against and with
The failures of what can no longer be.
I am not dead yet, it is true
And I do have a certain courage left to struggle
But the light is dimmer and dimmer
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I Lost The Calm Of My Poem and The Peace Of My Soul
I lost the calm of my poem and the peace of my soul
When I heard murderers would go free
And those who had deliberately killed women and children
Would torment yet again their victims’ families-
I lost the calm and the peace of my soul
When I learned that we had forsaken our principles of Justice
And given in to blackmail to ransom a single life -
I lost the calm of my poem and the peace of my soul
When I understand one can be too kind and too compassionate
And that those ‘kind to the cruel’ end up being ‘cruel to the kind’
I lost the calm of my poem and the peace of my soul
When I understood we as a people had ceased to be wise and courageous-
And given in to our own excessive sense of compassion and to the cruelty of the cruel.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
How Many Non- Beautiful Poems Must Be Written
How many non-beautiful poems must be written
Before one beautiful poem can emerge?
How many longings for love must a person know
Before their one true love comes?
How many times must one love one’s true love
Before one can never bear to be again without that Ecstasy?
How many times must one sense that Ecstasy gone
Before one knows that she is forever lost?
How many pleading meaningless words must be spoken to return her
Before one knows that she has forever gone?
How many words must be written
Before there is one true poem?
And how many poems must be said to one’s love
Before she listens and denies and goes far away to her own poem
Only she and not the one who has loved her with all his soul
Will ever know and be at home with?
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I read another poet I could not understand
I READ ANOTHER POET I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND
I read another poet I could not understand
The metaphors racing one after the other
The eternal thoughts taking on a new particular dress
Words and more words
Lines and more lines
Rushing toward meaning and beauty.
And in it all my simple not understanding,
My waiting to hear words that would return to me-
My understanding
That only by my own effort
By my reading again and again
By my willing to believe
Could I make another poet real.
But do I want another poet to be real
When I am a question,
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Home Alone Distressed Without Working Computer
Home alone without a working computer
I am at a loss
Every few minutes I think to look something up
No Google No Wikipedia Nothing
I want to read my mail
No mail
No entertainments from YouTube either
Where is the joy of perpetually going
From one interesting link to another?
Above all I am lost without my documents
This is my system for work and I cannot write without it
Without my computer I wonder what to do with my time
I do not have patience for all the books on my table
I am used to achieving things
In smaller times and spaces
Without my computer
I cannot be myself
I am lost without it
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
My Poems Came Back To Me / As Rhythms Without Sounds
My poems came back to me
as rhythms without sounds
Imitations of anothers music
Falling down and down
Like winter snow
To whitening ground-
My poems came back to me
As distant whispers of other destinies
Flights from deeper spaces
Mankind has not yet surmised
They were somewhere in the distance of distance
Beyond all distance
In the mystical language
Only Wisdom heard
Though it had no words of its own-
Only ‘now’ and ‘more’ and ‘dreams of another century’
And I, I with all these confusing words
Wondering if my friend would ever be sane again
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I Was Lonely Outside The World Of The Anthologized Poets
I WAS LONELY OUTSIDE THE WORLD OF THE ANTHOLOGIZED POETS
I was lonely outside the world of the anthologized poets-
I was lonely in not being good enough -
I was lonely in not being known -
I was lonely in having given a lifetime to never having been heard-
I was lonely in not being among the voices that will endure-
They were there on those heights
And all around them words of praise were being sung-
And I was lonely alone with my own little voice
Crying and crying and crying
Trying to write and afraid-
A lifetime had been given
And they were there on the glad height
And down in the low alone of my own lost words
Writing and writing forever my own lonely life away
I was as much alone as someone who would have been born in poetry and never was.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
They Say I'm An Old Man
THEY SAY I’M AN OLD MAN
They say I’m an old man
And they say I’ll soon be dead
And they say I will be dust forever
And all I have been be forgotten as if I never were
They say I am going to die so dead
That no one anywhere near not even in the darkest dark
Will love the light I gave
They say my grave too will one day be wiped away
And all I am be nothing forever and ever
They say I will not be
And I will never be again
They say I am going to die
And Death be my only end.
They say and they say and they say
But who are they
When I am here now
Writing this way
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
There Is A Poem Of Outrage And Sorrow
THERE IS A POEM OF OUTRAGE AND SORROW
There is a poem of outrage and sorrow I cannot write in a strong enough way-
It concerns the injustice of allowing murderers to go free-
It concerns the additional hurt and pain given to families
Who have had their loved ones cruelly taken from them-
It concerns one person I knew and deeply cared for
Burned to death-
A kind quiet man
Whose murderer will now go free-
There is a poem of outrage and sorrow I cannot write in a strong enough way-
It concerns a country so concerned with saving one life
That they risk the lives of many to do this
A country too compassionate
And an enemy so evil it sings and celebrates the deaths of children-
There is a poem of outrage and sorrow I cannot write in a strong enough way-
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
It Is Always Difficult To Begin The Week
IT IS ALWAYS DIFFICULT TO BEGIN THE WEEK
It is always difficult to begin the week
One's body is lost in a previous sleep
One's mind is still held down and back
Into resting -
The world is bleak
It is empty and difficult
I am empty inside
I have nothing to do
I have too much to do-
Still I must begin
I will do the usual routine assignments
Slowly I will get back into the motion and mind of my work
I am already trying now-
Even a small effort should bring forth suggestions for further effort
It will take time
[...] Read more
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!