Obedient To The Time Comments

daniel, this may seem a weird jump in thought or connection, but the feeling i get in this poem and things from your mantra poem make me think of abram's vision in genesis 15. it's actually a covenant ceremony and hopeful it its outcome, but a great darkness first descends on him. a long while ago in my own life i noticed that from the stories we have of him it was years between abraham's divine encounters. most of his life was lived between. but he stands out as one who held fast to what he learned in those moments of clarity and trusted God for his security, his life, hard as it was at times. (i'm relating these things to your mantra poem.) obedient to the time... i'm not sure it's what you intend, but grief, for example, is something that naturally enough weighs on us. no sense trying to throw off that mantle put on us- no sense, at least, once we have lived enough to gain some perspective on it, knowing we will go on and that grief too will take its place among all the experiences that shape us, that make us the humans we are. even as i say this though, i think of things that might come our way that throw us for a loop, to use a common expression, that may have no analogs in our lives to that point. what if... not knowing what they may be, we can't prepare for them. i can think of nothing better for this fruitless imagination than jesus' words, sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. and paul, inspired by the holy spirit as i understand it, assures us nothing will come our way that God will not provide what we need for it. ah! we are experiencing progressive decrepitude as we age. another thing comforts me, which i reread just recently, paul saying, when i am weak, then i am strong- for God shines clearly, is best recognized, in our weakness. glen

Perhaps this is the moment of the Phoenix, whose mantle I will assume. The fire subsides. I see people like myself, scattered across the scorched landscape. Like me, they seem ready and capable... From the few remaining charred trees, a flock of orange birds are singing brightly. The poem, though written with the imagery of apocalypse, speaks of 'undying spirit of life' No death can wipe it completely.The good things, the love, the sunshine will always be there to create the earth anew.No, we will never bow before the dark forces- - -A FLOCK OF ORANGE BIRDS SINGING BRIGHTLY- - - - - - - -

You have presented the concept of apocalypse so wonderfully that reader is awe-struck. Time is a cruel thing, the real enemy of man from which there is no escape. I have always been fascinated by this concept because somewhere in all of us lies a dread of the impending doom and the happenings of the world don't do much to quell our fears. Whether a poet writes about sunny things or dark things, he has to convey the feelings effectively and you always do that. A big 10.