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Robert Lindner
Looking Around
“So, somewhere in my youth or childhood,
I must have done something good.”
Something Good by Richard Rogers
From The Sound of Music
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Do not go gentle into that good night.
By Dylan Thomas
Today, I looked around
At the present times that my world has found
Itself in, as the past
Times have passed to the last
Moment. It seemed so fast,
Today, although I know that it was bound
To feel that way, as I
Looked at the world that the past seemed to fly
Me into with the speed
That every life will need,
As it matures from seed
Through stages of life, like I passed through my
Youth into the life I’m
In today. Just a traveler in time,
But with a memory
Of how I’ve come to be
Here, accidentally
Or by choice, passing through each paradigm
That changed into a new
Way of looking at the universe through
New lenses, as each change
That came could rearrange
My world view with some strange
New idea of how, we must look to
See the world that we find
Ourselves in, as it fits into the mind
That holds the history
That makes us think that we
Know who we want to be
And who we are. But the world’s not designed
With any one of us
In mind. But we’re here, like “George Antrobus,”
By the skin of our teeth.
But we know that the wreath
For us to lie beneath
Awaits. Because all life is hazardous.
So, as I look at mine,
I can’t say everything that is, is fine.
I can say, “I’m still here.”
But there’s a ship to steer,
An old boat and I fear
That somewhere down the line I’ll miss some sign,
And crash. I must take care
To guard the luck that’s taken me somewhere
And given me something,
“Something good.” I’m asking,
“What will the future bring?”
Though I know I won’t know till I get there.
So I’m looking for clues.
But there’re so many clues, it’s hard to choose
Which ones to rely on.
I know I’m a just pawn,
Whose time will soon be gone.
But today, I must pay my earthly dues
To the life that my age
Gives me, as age turns me to the next page.
While the earth turns from day
To night, I’ll go that way,
But as Dylan would say
“Do not go gentle.” So I must “rage, rage”
Against the dying light,
While hoping that I can make through the night.
I’m sure I will until
I won’t. It takes no skill.
I am atop the hill
Of life. I won’t go gentle. I will fight
Till I lose. As I will.
Time will always win. Until then I’m still
Here, looking around,
Finding nothing profound.
Just a song from “The Sound
Of Music,” from a place that will fill
Me with a memory
Of my childhood, where I began to see
The world, the planet earth,
After my happy birth.
And now for what it’s worth,
I’m looking around with my poetry.
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