When Chaos shivers you with a thunderous right,
think on beauty,
think on loveliness.
When your knees forget themselves,
when your bowels disintegrate,
fall as if flying.
When your chin hits the pavement,
when the mighty boot comes down,
think on joy.
Forgive freely.
_________
for dverse quadrille--"shiver"
Sometimes forgiving is the hardest task to undertake but once we do, it's freeing. Beautiful Shay.
ReplyDeleteStunning blog title.....the words are real therapy, better than any visit to the pharmacy, and my very favourite...fall as if flying.,,,,
ReplyDeleteI also like fall as if flying. This a little gem of a poem!
ReplyDeleteappreciate the moral of your poem and the most creative way to express it!
ReplyDeleteNice if you can pull it off.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteForgiveness -- the greatest task.
ReplyDeleteOoooommmm... Not always easy, but...
ReplyDeleteIt's a gift to think of positive and joyful thoughts. I pray for that gift of forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteFall as if flying......or at least make people think it was intended. Smiles. You really know how to Use Your Words.
ReplyDeletelike a 5 yr old.
DeleteI'm frankly sorry I posted this. Not one person gets what I'm about, here.
ReplyDeleteIt’s mocking and full of hatred. You want someone to feel deserved pain and retribution—as if you’re watching a bully be beaten down at last.
DeleteYES. Thank you!
DeleteI love the last line. It's the gateway to freedom. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI don't know one other human being who hasn't been hit by that "thunderous right" and it's no easy thing to see "beauty", "loveliness" and "joy" when that boot comes down. In my experience, I don't want to hear that advice when I'm in the throes of struggle. Maybe that's just my pessimism coming through but that's the feeling that came up for me. And forgiveness takes time...if ever!
ReplyDeleteExactly so. I don't write shallow positivity. But I mock it.
DeleteI understand!
DeleteSuch pain you have expressed here. A scene of paradoxes...
ReplyDeleteLovely poem. It is not easy to think on joy, but we must try.And once we try,we feel it. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a tall order! Beautifully written, but -wow- what a challenge!
ReplyDeleteYours,
David [ben Alexander]
There are times when positivity itself can be toxic. There is more to happiness than just waving your hands in the air and saying "I can pretend to have it even if I don't." Life asks us to take blows, to suffer, to accept perhaps, but I don't think it demands that we like it. A sharp, caustic look at the "attitude is everything" philosophy that prompts so much guilt and suppressed pain.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, dear BFF. I first heard the phrase "toxic positivity" a couple of days ago and have been thinking on it. As you've said, life is about the hard stuff, which deepens us. Popping up like a jack in the box with easy slogans is utterly meaningless and annoying.
DeleteSound advice indeed!
ReplyDeleteA good advice, and also so very hard... but sometimes forgiveness is even harder to receive than to give. Thinking positive is overrated I think. My father always referred to the Pollyanna Principle...
ReplyDeleteHmmm, that surely does give one pause about all the sweetness and light so often parroted. Beautifully – and, simultaneously, horribly – ironic. Thank you!
ReplyDeletePS Reading some of the comments, I think people are taking it metaphorically – which is indeed valid, but what if it were to be taken literally? E.g. a case of domestic violence? Or the soldier of a brutal regime crushing a rebel? Would they then advocate meek forgiveness and acceptance?
DeleteI think not.
Delete