Musings on Life, Love, and Linguine-Poetry & Writing
Those in-between moments when the mirror is clear
are like chasing black crows in my flying dreams
with my piercing eagle eyes shining in bright haze.
I fear I am much too fond of this thing we call love
So I soar above the bitterness in this tormented world
For these are troubling times of intense sorrow.
I know tomorrow’s news will come, and so will sorrow
but the longer I live, our future becomes less clear
for there is a torrent of chaotic madness in this world.
So I will lie down on a grassy knoll, watch clouds drift by, dream
of a more peaceful earth washed in a river of pure love
not overshadowed by mankind’s stifling haze.
Once the air is thick, and we’re smothered in the haze
and the sky cries murky tears in the wake of sorrow,
the blackness of hate overcomes, drowning love.
When a true path forward becomes lost, unclear
dashed will be all bright hopes, all sweet dreams
of living in a vibrant yet tranquil world.
With each phase of the moon, each turn of this world
I fear there is no escape from this vile haze.
I am content to live in my vivid dreams
where indifference is unwelcome, and so is sorrow.
For in this place I create, the air is sweet and clear
And everyone understands the true meaning of love.
And though I know I am much too fond of love
For I’ve created an imagined utopian world
where happiness reigns and the fragrant air is clear.
I have banished from my home the thick black haze
For here there is no place for tears and sorrow
But only the brightest most hopeful dreams.
So I will continue to create a place of dreams
And write of goodness and peace and love
for there is already much too much sorrow.
Gone the hope of bright tomorrows in this world
For there will always be evil’s insidious haze
that incites the fear, feeding a future that’s unclear.
For now I’ll live in my dreams, not in this dismal world
where love is love is love, free of the shadowy haze
and no sorrow presides when the mirror is clear.
©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg
Author’s Note: This is my second attempt at a Sestina for tonight’s Poetics at dVerse. Also linking to the Tuesday Platform at Toads.
Oh you really went into the Sestina in full force… love how you used the tools and wrote such a poem about the challenge to live in a world like this…. sometimes I feel that utopian dreams are as dangerous as dystopian depression… reality has elements of both.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they can be dangerous. But at times, the escape is helpful. Thank you Bjorn.
LikeLike
Your poem was a dreamy escape into the looking glass and I like how you ended it the same way you started: showing that the dream may be a nice little reprieve from reality, but it doesn’t really get you (us) anywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, exactly! Thank you Amaya.
LikeLike
You have outdone yourself!!!! I was into the 4th verse, so caught up in your words and the meaning before I even notices that it was a sestet…and then as I kept reading, again the form simply disappeared in the amazing content you’ve written here.
So many lines strike me….but these words,
“mankind’s stifling haze” are spot on. And you see, I’m commenting on the meaning again and not the form….it’s as if all the horrible news hangs over us like a haze and we’re drifting in it trying to find a way out to see the sun and the moon and the stars.
Again…..an AMAZING write for a sestet! Bravo!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Lillian- I am so happy you enjoyed it. FYI- this is a sestina. Autocorrect probably decided otherwise. 😉
LikeLike
Good advice. It is best to hold back the despair of others who already have too much sorrow:
“So I will continue to create a place of dreams
And write of goodness and peace and love
for there is already much too much sorrow.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Frank.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really good, though all attempts at Utopia are inevitably doomed to degenerate into Dystopia
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, of course. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We all need relief from the dreg controversies of this world, Linda. Love is the way, regardless of our noise-making. Your poem bares a delightful witness to that!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much Frank!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, I love the title and the concept. We truly need those places of respite in a world gone mad. Your sestina shines in how it lays out the rationale for it. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Lisa. Indeed we do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cheers to you for writing a second sestina, Lynda, and for the positive note you add to our dystopian every day experiences. We can’t let ourselves give into to the heavy oppression that surrounds us, so let’s keep on dreaming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, thank you Victoria!
LikeLike
Well said. It resonates, for me. I feel so much the same way. That dark haze that covers all of our brightest dreams of tomorrow………I am glad when poets write of peace and love. As you say, there is more than enough sorrow. You have mastered the sestina nobly. It looks like a difficult form, to me. I havent tried one yet. Well done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Sherry for your kind compliments. Yes, we do need to write of peace and love.
LikeLike
Double kudos here, presenting us with a sizzling sestina, and rocking the prompt. Good & evil, dystopia & utopia–two sides of the same coin. Marx dreamed of a brotherhood of man, and it morphed into socialist repression. Spartacus set up the Sun City in the toe of Italy, peopled by 100,000 former slaves, and it failed in one year after the honeymoon of freedom was replaced by the drudgery of governance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are a wealth of knowledge Glenn. Thank you for the compliments and the sharing of your knowledge!
LikeLike
wow this is exceptional, the flow so easy and the words resonate deeply!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, I found this message in SPAM.
LikeLiked by 1 person
happens all too often …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Living in dreams, I find is a wondrous place to be, rather ‘ ‘River Of Sorrow”
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lovely song Ivor. Thank you for sharing!
LikeLike
I’m pleased you enjoyed it 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautifully done Linda! Your poem reminds me of the Beatles song Love is All We Need! It is so easy to breath in all the haze, but there is a better way. It happens one at a time and one on one showing love to each other!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Dwight!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a nice Sestina, Linda. Hard work to make your thoughts fit the form. I sort of remember writing one once but I’d have to dig around, deep to find it.
We have a very large church here in Houston that calls itself “The Oasis of Love,” a bit similar to your created place of dreams.
..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jim. Houston is my home town. I lived there the first 39 years of my life. My favorite pizza place is still thriving there- Star Pizza- ❤️!
LikeLike
Pingback: When the Mirror is Clear — Charmed Chaos – yazım'yazgısı (typography)
A well-crafted, sweetly swinging ode to the sanctuary of happy places in a dark and darker world. Some great metrical engines chugging in the works. Amen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Brendan.
LikeLike
This escape can be so comforting at times — I love how you focus on choosing it with an understanding of this world at large. Such an excellent use of this difficult form too! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Anmol!
LikeLike
Another lovely sestina! Hang on to your love-ly dreams, Linda 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Lynn!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I so loved your line – “I fear I am much too fond of this thing we call love”!! Super post!!!
xoxo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Chuck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always a pleasure sharing your posts, Linda!! Hope you are having a great weekend!!
xoxo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow!
“Those in-between moments when the mirror is clear
are like chasing black crows in my flying dreams
with my piercing eagle eyes shining in bright haze.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
escape – whether physical or mental – is very important at times. This is not an easy form – and I didn’t notice it as such until the end!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Margaret!
LikeLike
Yes, to lie down and dream – resonates for me, what a thought provoking view of living through the horrors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Paul.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure Linda.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Original Greek Definition of Smoke and Mirrors
Yes Actually Apocalypse Meaning Lifting the
Veils of Ignorance Down Under a Tree
In the Desert
Wherever
Culture
Loses
its
Grasp
On Loving Nature
Within Us Whole the
Beach is my Favorite
Place as Life Flourishes
in the Niche’s Human Foot
Prints Have Yet to Touch not
so much the Foot Prints but Cultural
Clothes First Mortal Sin Clothes for Real..:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙏🏻
LikeLiked by 1 person
😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
We all need an escape from the relentless bad news of the world–you seem to have created a good one. I like the dreamy atmosphere your words create too. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! So good Loved it! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, I will gladly join you in this Utopian world. Lovely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Vivian.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A real sestina! Hurrah!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Pingback: Seven Links 8/24/19 Traci Kenworth – Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger
The dream if goodness, happiness, love, freedom is strong in humans — but the reality of it is a mountain of a fantasy seldom fully climbed, and the peak precarious to sustain. But climb we must, for the dream is necessary to keep us from annihilating ourselves — though we continue to try. Feeling very pessimistic recently…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your thoughts Rob.
LikeLike
Well done with another sestina Linda.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Rob.
LikeLike