Sunday, August 10, 2008

Poem: Untitled


It is not what was meant,
when you were thrown here,
thrown to this place of aloneness
and diminishment.

It was not what was expected as you moved
from lavishness to a simplier life,
empty nights, and days marked
by long silences.

It was not intended, yet
it became a nourishment of soul,
a rebirth of unintended pleasures,

a new reaching Godward,
a new acceptance inward,
of a life far richer than it's trappings,

filled with quiet color,
openness, and wonder, that even in pain,
there is the possibility of joy.

====================

The picture is of Roger's Store, a museum in Surry County, Virginia. More and more as I get older, I find simpler is somehow richer and this picture, from the area where my roots lie, somehow captured that for me. You may click on the image for a larger version.

The poem itself was inspired by an entry on The Blog at Bree, quoting Solzhenitsyn on his time in prison, and the benefits of suffering.

Tom

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