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Words Much Like Poetry

• November 17, 2009
• Toward Glory, Burning (Revisited)

  Posted: November 17th, 2009, 6:02am CST

  Hard times seem to be a constant with me. To the point that I've begun to feel as if they are all I'll ever know. There are moments however, when the need to be more than the sum total of my bad experiences swells within me and determination gives rise to hope. I cannot (alright, will not) explain the inspiration for this poem in detail, know that what strings it together is: a bad habit (terrible really and I need to quit), a day spent in an environment I care nothing for, my opinion of those who seem to inhabit that environment, and my determination to find my own brand of glory—the kind of glory that will ensure that I, myself, do not become like those inhabitants I very nearly sneer at in this poem.
  
  Toward Glory, Burning
  
  
  
  light flares and paper burns crisply,
  leafy contents send acrid smoke trailing lazily skyward
  and contentment swells starved lungs denied their usual fill,
  long hours spent in demeaning wait,
  in straight shoulder-back seated pose,
  book of sonnets upon my lap,
  mind screaming for release,
  this world of seemingly needful empty hands
  stretched out in greedy longing
  so that lackluster days might continue on
  through to life's end, does not suit me.
  I do not belong amongst this lot,
  I will not refrain from striving toward glory.
  
  ~ Wamuhu Mwaura, posted on Words Much Like Poetry May 1, 2008
  
  Image: Michele Walters, Fire works, Public Domain Pictures.net