[image from Pinterest]
STILL BALANCING BIRD SONGS
Remember those days, when we went to market?
The vendors put the sweet potatoes,
In one plate of the scale,
And then placed the weights,
On the other plate of the scale.
A little swing. A little adjusting.
Either take some of the sweet potatoes out,
Or some of the weights out.
Hmm, those skills of adjusting;
Which balance behooves of us?
When we juggled quantities,
Oranges one, then two, then three,
Now add a fourth all in the air,
Pitting gravity's pull,
Against the deftness of our minds?
We are now the modern day scale-people.
Place two sweet potatoes. Note it. Bag it. Tag it.
No wavering of weights.
No waverings of measures.
No crucial deciding choices of
One more or less to either sides of the plate.
We take home the sweet potatoes
Without one ounce of struggle.
Did we foresee the coming of complacency?
In our weights and measures.
The unrequited resolve of unnecessary balance?
All the while, sky juggles,
Her birds songs from varied coloured feathers.
And, oceans still carry;
One more seashell tossed to the sand of time
Taking in waves
A drag back of its measure of sand
According to the whim of its tide.
STILL BALANCING BIRD SONGS © gillena cox 2018
Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Balance
REVISIT
3 October 2016
3 October 2015
...better balance
Ha in our place still those old scales are used sometimes. So that ounce of struggle is still there. Love the beautiful close: One more seashell tossed to the sand of time
ReplyDeleteTaking in waves
A drag back of its measure of sand
According to the whim of its tide.
Thank you for your appreciation Sumana
ReplyDeletemuch love...
This is absolutely perfect and precious!
ReplyDelete"We take home the sweet potatoes
Without one ounce of struggle.
Did we foresee the coming of complacency?"
Yes, yes. And the ocean seems random, but I think it weighs and measures profoundly. What an amazing poem, how it holds and weighs the truth!
I love this poem,. Gillena. My new favourite of yours. Love the balancing of the sweet potatoes and, especially, the birdsong and tides in your closing stanza. BeaUTIFUL!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your appreciation Sherry
Deletemuch love...
Sadly, we have lost of our human soul, with the advent of digital scales and electronics. There are days that I wish, we could go back to the old ways, when life seemed filled with hope and dreams.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your appreciation Therisa
ReplyDeletemuch love...
What I hate is taking plastic home with you as most fresh food is wrapped in it so you are forced to add to the waste tips or oceans. A tip if you too are concerned when buying loose fruit why not put it in paper mushroom bags that do no harm.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I always loved the brown paper bags
ReplyDeleteHappy you dropped by Robin
Much love...
That's a lovely title, Gillena! I enjoyed your memories of the market and yummy sweet potatoes. I can visualise your description of weighing them and love the phrase 'Pitting gravity's pull / Against the deftness of our minds'; the list of three 'Note it. Bag it. Tag it.' and the lines:
ReplyDelete'All the while, sky juggles,
Her birds songs from varied coloured feathers'.
Thank you for your appreciation Kim
ReplyDeletemuch love
We are jugglers indeed
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by vanderloost
ReplyDeletemuch love...
We did not forsee the rise of complacency ingratitude secularism and all the resultant negative consequences back in the market days of weighing up sweet potatoes.. At least we still can savour the beauty and wonder of the natural world
ReplyDeleteThanks for your appreciation Rall
DeleteMuch love...
The last stanza is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteMuch love