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RIP - Comicality
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. 

By Chance or Appointment - 9. The Children At Your Door

I found this amongst my older things. I do not think I have posted it before. Any errors of form or detail are mine alone.

They come beneath the blanket of the night

with nothing but a vision to sustain

themselves throughout their long and labored flight,

by means of transportation most arcane

a harbor without hazard to obtain,

wherever they might hope to come ashore

although the unforgiving will restrain

and bar the children waiting at your door.

 

Flint-hearted ones with quivers full of spite

would turn an eye bewintered with disdain

because strange tongues and customs may rewrite

their transitory power on the wane,

a privileged position to maintain;

so brandishing their arrows all the more

they curse creased faces at the windowpane

and bar the children waiting at your door.

 

Cruel insults volley, mean and impolite,

but ever spend their malice all in vain,

for they who journey toward a future bright,

to freely work and love where none can chain

their hearts to preconceptions inhumane,

will shine as once our ancestors before

who toiled upon the broad and fruited plain,

until you barred the children at your door.

 

Now bend your ear, and listen, if you deign,

to them whose courage shakes us to the core;

and you, who would no valiant heart profane,

why bar the children waiting at your door?


Thank you for taking time to read this Ballade. If you have any comments or thoughts to leave, know that I appreciate anything you may have to say.
Copyright © 2022 Parker Owens; 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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Parker Owens
7 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

A powerful Ballade, Parker. I'm glad it's found a home and is now posted among your other work 

Thank you. My mind was filled with images of children at Ellis Island, and in modern detention centers too.  The Ballade is a satisfying form, if enough rhymes can be found.

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Parker Owens
2 minutes ago, Headstall said:

I think I have only written one Ballade. This was excellent. Thank you!

Thanks very much for reading.  They can be a long project to write, but it feels good to complete one.  Now you have me thinking about trying again.

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raven1
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A beautiful and heartbreaking Ballade. It shines a powerful spotlight on those who heartlessly deny to innocent people what was given them by their ancestors.

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Parker Owens

@raven1 It was written to remind those who would snuff out the lamp beside the golden door that the ones left in the darkness are as human as they. Thanks very much for reading and for your response. 

Edited by Parker Owens
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weinerdog
1 hour ago, Parker Owens said:

Thank you. My mind was filled with images of children at Ellis Island, and in modern detention centers too.  The Ballade is a satisfying form, if enough rhymes can be found.

Thank you for this Ballade and for explaining your influence in writing this I was thinking of the immigrant children separated from their families while reading this 

Edited by weinerdog
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Parker Owens
12 minutes ago, weinerdog said:

Thank you for this Ballade and for explaining your influence in writing this I was thinking of the immigrant children separated from their families while reading this 

Thank you for reading this, and for letting me know your thoughts. 

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pvtguy

All I could see while reading were the children put in the cages due to the policies of the last administration in the U.S.  I can also see it as a larger view, as you mention, to the closing of the doors to immigrants.  Very powerful!  Great writing!

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Aditus

Thank you, Parker!

The Ballade is a form I still have to learn to master, yours is impressive in message and execution IMHO.

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Parker Owens
7 hours ago, pvtguy said:

All I could see while reading were the children put in the cages due to the policies of the last administration in the U.S.  I can also see it as a larger view, as you mention, to the closing of the doors to immigrants.  Very powerful!  Great writing!

Thanks very much for your response to this. I can only feel sorrow for the families that have been played as pawns in political games and put through ordeals in the past years. Unfortunately, this poem is as fresh now as when it was written. I’m grateful for your comments, and for your reading. 

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Parker Owens
3 hours ago, Aditus said:

Thank you, Parker!

The Ballade is a form I still have to learn to master, yours is impressive in message and execution IMHO.

Thank you very much for your encouraging thoughts. This is a form worth wrestling with. 

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