"unafflicted" poems
No, no, no,
that's not how it happened at all.
Precocious children
have never been afforded that much influence
and Emperors, then as now
are largely unafflicted by shame.
And it's a good thing too
- why, if the story had gone
the way Anderson had it,
neither I nor any of the men of the town
would have our jobs
at the Magic Cloth factory
You do realise
that the trade in Magic Cloth
supports all the world's major economies now,
don't you?
Nor would the aristocracy
look half so stylish,
sashaying hither and thon
in the glorious altogether,
applauded by the taste-makers
and notably contemptuous
of child-like observation.
Mar 2, 2013
Mar 2, 2013 at 2:56 PM UTC
Oh how I love Thy holy Word,
Thy gracious covenant, O Lord!
It guides me in the peaceful way;
I think upon it all the day.
What are the mines of shining wealth,
The strength of youth, the bloom of health!
What are all joys compared with those
Thine everlasting Word bestows!
Long unafflicted, undismay'd,
In pleasure's path secure I stray'd;
Thou mad'st me feel thy chast'ning rod,
And straight I turned unto my God.
What though it pierced my fainting heart,
I bless'd Thine hand that caused the smart:
It taught my tears awhile to flow,
But saved me from eternal woe.
Oh! hadst Thou left me unchastised,
Thy precepts I had still despised;
And still the snare in secret laid
Had my unwary feet betray'd.
I love Thee, therefore, O my God,
And breathe towards Thy dear abode;
Where, in Thy presence fully blest,
Thy chosen saints for ever rest.
1.6k
Muriel, it’s been forty-four years and
I still think about you everyday.
I met you in the rain on the last day
of 1972, the same day I resolved to **** myself.
You were the **** store employee
wearing a chartreuse shirt. I was, of course,
the naked thirty-something with a few good teeth,
unafflicted by any social diseases.
You told me I had great veins.
Aug 13, 2016
Aug 13, 2016 at 7:47 PM UTC
Some of us never see beyond the veil.
Some of us live constricted
And act rough and unafflicted
Like a crocodile caught in the choke of a boa constrictor
Dying
Everyday
We wish to live.
Some of us never feel beyond our television set
And when the bet is on for the black stallion
We watch with eyes gone wide
And wide
And wider still
Until
The race is won.
It's done!
The illusion was fun,
But it wasn't your win.
It was symbolic and yes
Yes
Yes,
You took sides.
You thought you could know who was wrong,
Who could ride...
But that tide was a movement far distant from you.
And you laughed
And you cried.
You were born
And you died.
In your blank, black worn stare
You decided to confide
In the screen.
A box, a machine
Representing a reality you ceased to believe
Could exist.
Some of us never manage to truly face a challenge
Because life exists freely upon great silver platters,
And the whole great wide world waits like a buffet
Free of line-ups
So all food and thought is conveyed
To your brain
Like old, stale bread.
Somethings not right;
Beyond thought, left unsaid.
And through all doors of suffering,
You kick and you scream!
"This is not how they said it would be on TV!"
So despite all the knowledge,
And your free ******* college
University never taught you to truly acknowledge
The great Godly cosmos
Or the holy osmosis of truth and contraption of stars spread like roses
In minds
Afflicted by
The human condition.
We're all on a mission.
Some of us say there's a great old technician
Who paid our tuition
To the great school of life
Yet admission
was granted
to few.
Contradiction, I find to be honest contrast
Like AdBusters right next to old capitalist class
Or a pet on the cheek to a slap on the ***
Now the bell rings;
Nothing good ever lasts
But the point all along has been to learn how to dance
To the music.
Feb 8, 2012
Feb 8, 2012 at 2:09 AM UTC
snow and humidity flow wealth
deal slow spoken depart of evening dusk
geography gave its classic crowning achievement
banks of breeze
chrysanthemum, artemisia, dahlia profusion
teeming between vast favelas
undulating urban inscribed temple example
contributes to interlude
unafflicted infrastructure officially released
an array of agglomerations and organisms
fantasy spoke understanding
capacity to cope
innermost insulation in the valley
small lessons prepared immune defense
immense swaths of civilization plan
an accumulation of saplings
prestige expanding on the edges of periphery
trees rooted in tribal transformation
movement conceived by branches
an acquisition of blooms abounding
connectivity involving strategic placement, intuitive responses, orchestrated shift
combination of changes to communicate an aesthetic of nature
a perceptual intellectual engagement to negotiate the cumulative effect
the manner in which a sense seems to take shape
through elements overhead
sculpted mindset of synthesis
animates the dynamics
a characteristic
a reservoir of peace
paradise components
dazzling province
metropolis of permanence
Jun 17, 2019
Jun 17, 2019 at 9:03 PM UTC
The clock’s hands arrested
At the time our lips came.
The blood rushing in our temples
Overcame the ticking.
The air hurried into silence
As our hearts synced, beating.
The rift coming between us
Traced back and forth, rekindling.
Bother flees our skin
And doubt sinks in quicksand.
For sure, for certain,
As your fingers navigate
Every wrinkle in my hand,
And I catch your shoulder,
Yet to be chiseled, for wars,
From the weight of a gun,
Full of light, you let pass,
Piercing through,
Peering for my soul,
Searching for each crevice
To comfort and assure.
Your other hand,
Driven unto madness
Of an unrelenting encore,
Scouring for the ungrasped
And the worded whispers
To beg earnestly for.
… And time up on his chamber
Painted pictures just to remember
That moment he arrested his hands
To give two lovers an unafflicted chance…
Mar 2, 2021
Mar 2, 2021 at 4:50 AM UTC
I feel so empty, so numb.
I look into your eyes and feel nothing,
nothing but fear.
Fear for how bad it will hurt.
Hurt like your first scraped knee.
Kneecaps quivering like leaves.
Leaves that change color seasonally.
Seasons that change around me.
Me?
Unafflicted.
Me?
Empty.
Jul 14, 2014
Jul 14, 2014 at 6:07 AM UTC
those words moved across my skin with a familiarity i could not (at first) pin down but i knew that i knew them so well
and you in your infinite wisdom and kindness
being wholly unafflicted with our generation's pervasive emotional purblindness
you realized the words had struck a chord within me
and that brought out in you your innate sensitivity
my silent tears were soaking into your t-shirt when your phone screen illuminated my face
so you attempted to get a read on my emotional state and headspace
but i reassured you because it was the furthest thing from your fault
it was just that that song had dredged up some feelings
that i had long since forgot
memories of a time and a place and a boy
that had caused me more pain than they'd ever brought me joy
you gave me a chance to talk if i wanted
and when i passed it up you just changed the subject
and held me a little bit closer
hugged me a little bit tighter
and didn't say a word
because you didn't need to
as we laid there in the dark and sang
our harmonies tangling
hanging in the still night air
until at last i fell asleep, still safely held in your arms
the last thing in my head the sound of us singing all my favorite songs
Nov 21, 2017
Nov 21, 2017 at 11:39 AM UTC
the world can
bend
and
c h a n g e
much more quickly
and to a much greater extent
than the unafflicted
believe.
Jul 1, 2018
Jul 1, 2018 at 9:03 PM UTC