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    Headstall
  • Headstall
  • Author
  • 04/21/2023
  • 332 Words
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  • 14 Comments
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Treasures Found - 2. Chapter 2 Lessons Learned

And now for something completely different...

Lessons Learned

 

 

You plied me with guilt

And coerced with your plight

Took advantage of compassion

To feed a need to be right

 

Broken promises lay strewn

Amidst real devastation

With wisps of good intentions

But never compensation

 

No man is an island

But you were a continent

With a kingdom to rule

And this mortal ceding covenant

 

As far as I’ve come

The damage still lingers

And my soul carries bruises

From your icy cold fingers

 

Though tables did turn

And you spilled forth your need

Past pain is a specter

That still makes me bleed

 

Might be you’ve learned

And maybe you’ve changed

But my brain stems my heart

For turning back is deranged

 

So go peddle your wares

In the way that you do

I’ve seen more of this world

And know love can be true

 

I would say I wish you well

But really I don’t

I’d caution you be kind

But you’ve proven you won’t

 

There’s a life to be lived

One directed by none

So with all things considered

With our end I have won

 

 

 

Haiku

 

A slippery slope

Is a cautionary tale

We can learn too late

 

 

Haiku

 

Up in the meadow

Beneath the snow white blanket

Hope springs eternal

 

 

Haiku

 

I recall a pond

And string on a willow pole

With bare feet in mud

 

 

Haiku

 

Looking at the stars

Makes light of our existence

Yet soothes our torched souls

 

 

Haiku

 

Puddles within ice

Give way beneath heavy boots

Like winter to spring

 

 

Haiku

 

The snip of a branch

Reveals a return to life

Sticky sap its blood

 

 

Haiku

 

With all I have learned

I feel a babe in the woods

For life surprises

 

 

Haiku

 

The world has gone mad

As dark history repeats

Its persecution

Thank you for reading. Please share your thoughts if this poem made you feel something. Cheers!
Copyright © 2023 Headstall; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

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Chapter Comments

  • Popular Comment
Headstall
  • Popular Comment
21 minutes ago, dughlas said:

Pain sometimes lingers far beyond the time of the initial hurt.

For me the muddy toes came from wading in the stream just down the road from my grandparents house. Thanks for the reminder.

Like specters in the night, that pain revisits well past its sensible expiration date. These are my ghosts, these memories that coalesce out of thin air, able to make me reel from the onslaught of their agonies. Not necessarily a bad thing, for they have kept me from making mistakes. Writing is like purging, even if the cleansing is temporary.

I like the 'fishing' Haiku too. I don't remember catching anything, but I remember the mud and the minnows around my feet. :) 

Thanks, dugh. One more chapter to go... hopefully tomorrow. :hug:   

  • Love 9
Headstall
33 minutes ago, centexhairysub said:

Lessons Learned just made me feel so sad...

Once again good Haikus.

Some of our most valuable lessons come with pain. It takes longer for some to learn to keep our fingers clear of 'hot stoves', and I learned that the hard way. It is sad, so I understand, but there is solace in knowing what you never want again. Appreciate hearing your thoughts as always, my friend. 

Happy the Haiku were appreciated. I enjoy writing those. Cheers! :hug: 

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Headstall
13 minutes ago, Albert1434 said:

You don't always bleed from the wounds we receive, and so we suffer from lessons we learn. All were fabulous poems! I love them all!

Exactly. Some wounds can't be seen, but they are there, and hopefully we learn from them. I carry invisible scars that itch every once in a while, but that is life. If it were always easy, the good times would not be as treasured. Thanks so much, Albert. I love when my poetry connects with readers. :hug: 

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Headstall
  • Popular Comment
4 minutes ago, raven1 said:

Lessons Learned was a powerful rebuke of an abusive person, yet a great declaration of the win over that abuse.  It is my favorite of the poems.  The haiku were all beautiful, but the ones that touched on nature were very endearing and special for me.  

Haiku, traditional Haiku, are meant to reflect nature, but that is a broad definition to me. Nature can be our feelings and our desires and our pain... and especially our joy. We as people can claim Nature as our own. :)  Still, I am of the same mind as you and the traditionalists. The beauty of the natural world and what it gives us makes for the best Haiku. 

"Lessons Learned" is most certainly a rebuke, but more than that, it is a reminder to look beneath the surface. It was a difficult lesson to learn for this old romantic who used to want to see only the good in people, wanting to believe it was there when it so obviously wasn't. At first I wasn't sure it fit with the theme of the anthology, but the more I thought of it, I saw it as one of my most personally impactful explorations. I am pleased you found it worthy, my friend. :hug: 

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Headstall
  • Popular Comment
3 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

Though I selected the weeping response, I cannot help but recognize the hope in some of your Haiku, as in

 

Up in the meadow 

Beneath the snow white blanket 

Hope springs eternal

and

 

Puddles within ice 

Give way beneath heavy boots 

Like winter to spring

Thanks again for sharing  yourself in these. 

 

There is always hope. Even in "Lessons Learned" there is hope. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, Parker. :hug: 

  • Love 6
Aditus

Lesson Learned is heartbreaking and hard to read but as a teacher, I say the learned is definitely positive.

Your haikus generate a Wechselbad (alternating hot and cold baths) of emotions.

The snip of a branch

Reveals a return to life

Sticky sap its blood

 

I love it,very evocative.

 

Looking at the stars

Makes light of our existence

Yet soothes our torched souls

 

Oh my, perfect.

These are great, Gary!

 

 

 

 

  • Love 4
Headstall
2 minutes ago, Aditus said:

Lesson Learned is heartbreaking and hard to read but as a teacher, I say the learned is definitely positive.

Your haikus generate a Wechselbad (alternating hot and cold baths) of emotions.

The snip of a branch

Reveals a return to life

Sticky sap its blood

 

I love it,very evocative.

 

Looking at the stars

Makes light of our existence

Yet soothes our torched souls

 

Oh my, perfect.

These are great, Gary!

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Adi! The stars Haiku probably means the most to me. Many I night have stood staring upward, letting the skies put my life in perspective. They are moments in time that do repair my soul. :)  I do see sap as blood... I think I have an affinity for trees... ever since I read "The Celestine Prophecy". They fascinate me, and I will often meditate while holding onto or leaning against one. It is very spiritual.  :unsure: 

Lessons Learned was a hard one, but came to mind as such a cataclysmic part of my life's journey. It seems I need to go back to that time every so often in my mind. Surprisingly, it eases my doubts for a time, even if it can be an unpleasant few days while I relive the ups and the downs. We spend our life learning, even despite best efforts. :)  As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts on my poetry, so thanks again, my friend. :hug: 

  • Love 3
ReaderPaul

How beautiful!  Once again, beauty, hope, memory, and other forces collide in and expressive way.  The memories brought back of growing up on a small farm, near a small town, the variety of people influencing me -- from a male librarian who was also a master bricklayer, to a car assembly line neighbor, to my father who worked 66 hours a week  my first 6 years of life, and a friend's mother who suffered from depression yet was very caring.  Ah, the memories, @Headstall.

Very well done, Gary.

Edited by ReaderPaul
  • Love 3
Headstall
33 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

How beautiful!  Once again, beauty, hope, memory, and other forces collide in and expressive way.  The memories brought back of growing up on a small farm, near a small town, the variety of people influencing me -- from a male librarian who was also a master bricklayer, to a car assembly line neighbor, to my father who worked 66 hours a week  my first 6 years of life, and a friend's mother who suffered from depression yet was very caring.  Ah, the memories, @Headstall.

Very well done, Gary.

Thank you, Paul. I grew up on a small farm (across the road from my uncle's farm) near a small town too. It was our family's refuge after a split from my father. I have so many great memories of that time, and it's where I learned to appreciate nature. Every day was spent outdoors... and it was bliss for a little kid. :)  My mom suffered from depression on and off, and it got really bad sometimes, but I could never fault her after all she'd been through. So glad to hear you liked my poetry in this chapter. Some of it was heavy, but you're right that there was beauty and hope and memories too. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, my friend. Cheers! :hug: 

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