Symbol of Shadows~ by Ron Reed

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of Symbol of Shadows

Symbol of Shadows~

There is a shadow in the corner
obscure, undefined, and so familiar
something that might be me
some time to come, some time to pass
Is this me or am I background to all
that is around me.
In each passing moment , the symbol taps
a haunting beat, tapping, ticking, resonating
portent, inevitable change, quiet fade.
The rhythm of danger swells to awareness
The occurrence of prediction is held with adornment
in evil or in goodness.
The shadows creep in to fill the gaps
of our imagination, giving shape
to deflating rooms, hallways, recesses.

The ground looks up in pools of God’s tears
and I demand an audience
to know my place and to know
the place I have chosen are the same
and would you join me.
While the reptile puts on the mask, familiar
of acceptance, the face we can stand to see
the symbol taps, ticks, resonates
the sound that holds the walls to their frame
the silence that pleads for movement
the rest that teases at arms length
the love that justifies the pain
the cry that splits the air
the air that blankets the sleep
the sleep that prolongs

Doubt is the tool of change
and change is the tool of progress
less change for the sake of change
less progress to cover our mistakes
and my madness might be all I can live
not short of kindness and giving
Set free this shell harbored soul
that was cast from warm recluse into uncertain light
and seek out that single sound
Shhhhh,The symbol taps, ticks, resonates
choice is argued in degrees,
where semantics break the tie.
I reach out to touch
and the touch eludes,and the illusion lives
and the life persists.

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Portia Burton

This is the fifth time that this poem has pulled me towards it and yet it’s meaning eludes me.And I won’t try to know what exactly the poet wants to say. I just see his questioning shadow standing at my front door, asking me to ask myself the perennial question-’who am I?’.Mr. Ron’s recital reminded me of a dialogue from ‘King Richard the second’
-’For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed, some slain in war….’etc.
A wonderful experience!
-Portia
http://blognostics.net/members/Willow/ Willow

I wish I could say deep and powerful and leave it at that, Ron, but you know I can’t. This poem is incredible! It is a Dali painting turned into words, I would love to see famous painting, “The Persistence of Time” I believe, I have no time to research right now but the painting of the melting watch or actually anything Daliesque since this poem is the epitome’of surrealism, at least to me. It speaks to the deepest and most universal questions in the soul of man; the constant “symbol taps a haunting beat” and the “shadow” of substance or reality and time, inexorable as the law of entrophy. The masks we wear until we are strangers to ourselves and your simply eloquent use of repetition without sliding into monotony is brilliant with the lines begining with “the sound that holds the walls to their frame” are the walls keeping the sanity in or the insanity from getting out; “the air that blankets the sleep” the lines in the progression have an internal tension that makes me, like Rimly, hold my breath without knowing why. The symbol could be a watch, a drum roll, an eulogy,—as a symbol it could be anything mean anything and yet the shadows remain creating an overall darkness, foretelling of things left better unsaid; a masterpiece of surrealism and plunging into the darkest abyss we all carry yet conceal, revealing only the shadow as the substance may truly turn us insane. Not an easy poem to write or read but then the best works never are. Brilliant, Ron
http://rimlybezbaruah.blogspot.com rimly

That was some deep and powerful poem Ron. I held my breath reading each line.
- http://ifihadablogpart2.blogspot.com Ron
  
  Thank you Rimly – I dug down deep for this one.