One Way to Calm the Mind

We all know that life can be a real "challenge" from one day to the next - or more like one minute to the next on occasion. When we try to fit everything that is important to us, along with the mundane necessities into our daily schedules, it makes for one hectic lifestyle. It generally leaves our minds frazzled and our bodies in a constant state of stress. So what do we do to calm down?

Well, in the case of this writer, there are a few things that come to mind. I am of the creative “ilk”, so I put my thoughts and energies into several things. The obvious outlet for my creativity is writing. I am also a musician, (I play guitar - left-handed - check out my website under “About”), and so for many years I wrote songs and played with quite a few bands. A lot of my songs became poetry, along with many more poems which have been compiled into one of my books called “ TAPESTRY .” Many of my poems have a medieval tone and some are quite classic and epic in nature.

Like novels, poetry can carry you to parts unknown, but may have very different emotional and spiritual effects from person to person. A poem can allow you to see things from a different perspective, can tell a story, and often has a very tranquil or calming effect. At the most basic level, poetry is important because it makes us think, it opens us up to wonder and the sometimes astonishing possibilities of language. It is, in its subtle yet powerful way, a discipline for re-engaging with a world we take too much for granted. So, here are several of mine, and if you would like to read more, check out “TAPESTRY”.

THE TRAVELER

I step upon the path

And strain my eyes to see ahead

I walk to strengthen my resolve

And resolve will make me walk instead

Throughout my life - toward the light

For answers to this strange and tangled thread

I move upon the road

And hasten toward the light I see

I run to manifest my hope

And hope it finds my inner need

Throughout my days - a thousand ways

For answers that are always plaguing me

 

I fly above the highway

And stretch my wings up to the sky

I soar because the dream is real

And real is cause to fantasize

Throughout the years - and all the tears

For answers to this haunting lullaby

 

EPITAPH

I sit here by the windowsill

And sometimes wonder while I’m still

If life is but a test of will

Or dreamlike with a wisp of smoke

To damn us all, as if it spoke

But now that I have gathered age

I see my life as one more page

Of teaching like a withered sage

To dream upon a younger man

As only one with my age can

And set into this world a passioned rage

For this to go on as before

The young must always yearn for more

Than living stolid, war to war

And hiding from their feelings lost

While living, though their lives are tossed

Onto the sand that marks the ocean’s shore

 

I hope you enjoy - Happy reading,

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com

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