Sunday, September 13, 2009

Poem: After Prayers

After Prayers

You sit at the table,
the morning light bright through the window,
your mind dark with thoughts
that came like thieves in the night
to rob you of sleep,
of peace,
of now.

Your eyes are bloodshot
and burn,
the white light from the window
is painful,
and you are tempted to turn inward,
the the dimness of this place
where you have lived so long,
where dust falls on furniture and feelings
cloaked in remembrance
more true than truth.

But you do not.
You turn your eyes to the window,
and squint with pain
as you gaze beyond your comfortable darkness
to the light
and promise of the day.

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

The picture was taken at Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice!! I enjoy visiting your blog!!

Unknown said...

Hi Tom,

These lines are wonderful:

"where dust falls on furniture and feelings
cloaked in remembrance
more true than truth"

Tom Atkins said...

Aspen, I am glad you find good things here!

Derrick, thank you. I think there are things in most of our lives that are more true than truth.

FireLight said...

Thank you for reminding me....we always have a choice when the darkness is haunting us...we can dust that furniture, so to speak...
{smiles}

word verificattion here is

gothspl

Shadow said...

"as you gaze beyond your comfortable darkness
to the light
and promise of the day."
just WOW! love those lines!!!!

Tess Kincaid said...

Sometimes it's easy to be comfortable in the rut of the darkness. Thought provoking poem, Tom.