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The Nature of things
Breathing isn’t something I accomplish by my own effort
No. Breathing is hard wired, natural, subliminal, subconscious, like
sneezing
or sighing,
or desiring to leave a lasting mark,
something to echo when I’m gone.
There are things that require tenacity, that fight against
what comes naturally, and that, my friend, is the
straw that’s breaking.
The ache for making a change for the better eludes and
deludes me into thinking
it’s up to me to buckle down and
try harder, to strive with more deliberate intent,
To repent.
Take for instance
forgiveness of things, like
a sideways look, or a word unspoken, or a birthday forgotten, or a violation
of my body, or a crime
like taking the life of what’s mine, or a lie
told in the form of a story or a prayer
that’s clearly crossing the line.
Contrary to what I would like to think, or what I’m being told,
I can’t make myself forgive.
I can’t close my eyes, concentrate harder and presto, forgiveness
comes like a blessed dove, and makes beauty of my broken bits.
No, the hit hurts and the blood squirts red
and I need more than a King James bandage to
fix this. ‘nuff said.
Or, while we’re talking about expectations
there’s Sacrifice and Surrender, a pair married for years, and still
making it work despite their differences.
While the world screams, ‘self-actualize’ and ‘to thine on self be true,’
these two
quietly stand, hand-in-hand,
watching, suggesting
submission brings freedom and life,
contrary to the strife of opinions on everything
every little decision that must be
made and played out, all things being equal.
No. I can’t by my own willpower choose these.
And Rest, well
that’s another idea I respect, but
for the life of me can’t get around to it, yet. So many other things to
accomplish and prove my own worth, while
my to do list is longing just to be still
and know that someone else will
pry the steering wheel from my sticky fingers,
take back the waste,
redeem the
trivial Facebook posts
twittering reality shows
and mid-winter naps.
Human nature being what it is, real life being what it is
it’s contrary. Preposterous, this
Kingdom upside down thought
that Sunday morning ideals
can root in
and stick ‘til Thursday.
And while I rant and rave
on things I don’t have the capacity to understand, nor
the power to change,
He waits for me to be still
and listen.
Lesley-Anne Evans
January 2011
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- Sunday Soliloquy (buddybreathing.wordpress.com)
BUDDY BREATHING 
Wow! So much in so small a space… It is so overwhelming unless we can break it into bite sized pieces and nibble away bit by bit. And we’ll never get it all because some is just so hard to chew or impossible to swallow.
So nice that we CAN be still and listen. And breathe.
Thank you.
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Fantastic to have you come by. I loved your poem very much, and look forward to us sharing words again. I recognize our humanity in all this, and enjoy the nibbling along the way as well.
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Ha, stumbled upon another poem, and again, it’s very good! Two suggestions (I hope I can, I don’t usually do this but I’m touched by the poems I’ve read),
1. the first stanza, ‘I accomplish -by my own effort- the effort affects the poem, try ‘I accomplish on my own’ and see how that plays with you.
The ‘own’ also plays with ‘gone’ at the end of that stanza.
2. With long poems, I often find that it’s not the length that detracts, and this poem should not be cut down, but the lack of breath.
Try the I. II. III split say, so that I. marks you to the end of your first drive…up to the end of the third stanza, II. begins at the forth, and you omit the ‘or’…straight into, ‘While…, and III. begins at “Human nature…’
Like I said, I don’t usually do this, but I was so taken by your poem, I couldn’t help myself! Try it and see what effect it has on you, and the people you ask to read it and see, and of-course, delete this particular message when done so it doesn’t clutter your comments!
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Thank you for your comments… I’ve always thought critique to be a good thing, one that we mustn’t shy away from but embrace. So, I will work this through and see where it takes me. I do appreciate your insights, and your work also.
LAE
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Just found this (again). I look forward to working on this piece, incorporating your thoughts and taking it someplace. Thanks for giving tangible advice… I do appreciate the
sharpening that happens when we talk this way.
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