One thing in life
That you will find
Above everything else is your name

Passed down freely
From your family
Where generations have all had their say

It's been quite the mix
Of both women and men
Some voices still speak from the grave

Stand up and fight
For what you feel is right
Above everything else is your name

This name you own it
Shined bright or tarnished
It's all in how you handle your day

In what you've been told
Treat it like gold
In this world of come whatever may

With your reputation
People stop, look, and listen
As through life you make your way

So don't let them down
Those gone and those still around
Above everything else is your name

(a ten-word, tenured writ)

~

they found her lying... 
beneath the weight 
of stolen lines!

~

*post script.

this ten word post from 2013 somehow seemed rather apropos today... with only one necessary change... it's gender.  

having begun my life of a poet as a 9-year old plagiarist, i know the shame of discovery... thankfully for me it was just fourth-grade and the shame of discovery opened eventually to a world of poetic uncovering.  i needed not copy anyone else for the seeds were already within!!!  my hope today is that she too will have such a revelation!  



my original post script from 2013...

copycats never win (10w)
though these words are true, i sometimes wonder if Solomon was right... is there ANYTHING new under the sun; are any of my words really my own?  or did i read them somewhere and then they jumbled, tumbled out rearranged as "my own?"

Butterfly kisses upon my lids aroused me from my slumber.
A spectacle of vibrant hues confounded me with wonder.
The Horizon shimmered with summer’s heat
As Psyche herself darted, to and fro, in moments beyond number.
Away, away, she flew away; beyond my grasp and reach.
Never to return no matter how much I might beseech.
That summer, too, has quickly fled. The air is growing colder.
I feel her loss most keenly now and nevermore will I hold her.
But, sometimes, late at night, when in the manner of repose;
I imagine she lies next to me, her eyes being also closed.

Big city, big lights
Fast cars on fast lanes
Little ants moving so quickly
As if moving in another dimension of time
Trying to find that paved road that leads
To their aspirations and dreams
Searching for life purpose it may seem

There is another road, a dirt road
That leads to simpler times
Where a magic spell is woven
A timeless place has awoken
Where one can waltz with the stars and moon
Lips part and a stolen kiss shared
Taken to heights to soar and perhaps swoon
Observe nature and jot down lines
I will take that dirt road every time