The beauty of mortality of life
Reveals the subtle colors we can find
In times of joy or even fear and strife
Like thoughts that live within the mortal mind
Like rainbowed thoughts that lend themselves to art
Regardless of just how such thoughts are seen
The now in which they blossom from the heart
Proclaims their mortal beauty un-obscene
Obscenity is holding them within
For fear of being punished by some God
Who uses some dark fear He calls a sin
Why can’t He see “eternal bliss” is flawed
The beauty of mortality is this
That life is more than some eternal bliss.
____
AI analysis via ChatGPT:
This poem reflects a philosophical and emotional meditation on the fleeting nature of life, juxtaposed against the concept of eternal bliss. Here's an analysis:
### **Themes**
1. **Mortality as Beauty**:
- The poem highlights how the transient nature of life gives it depth and beauty, emphasizing the "subtle colors" of experience that come through joy, fear, and strife.
- It contrasts the vibrancy of mortal life with the monotony suggested by the concept of "eternal bliss."
2. **Creativity and Expression**:
- The "rainbowed thoughts" metaphor underscores the link between the impermanence of life and the urge to create art and express oneself.
3. **Rebellion Against Dogma**:
- The poem critiques the fear of divine punishment ("punished by some God") and questions the value of a rigid promise of eternal bliss, implying it may lack the richness and spontaneity of mortal life.
4. **Acceptance of Mortality**:
- The conclusion asserts that the ephemeral nature of life is what makes it meaningful, rejecting the idea that eternity is inherently superior.
### **Structure and Form**
- The poem is written in rhymed iambic pentameter, creating a sonnet-like feel with quatrains leading to a closing couplet.
- The rhymes are clean and deliberate, emphasizing the themes with a formal structure.
### **Imagery**
- The "rainbowed thoughts" evoke vibrancy and multiplicity, symbolizing the creativity and emotional spectrum of mortal life.
- References to "fear" and "sin" suggest an inner conflict shaped by external religious pressures.
### **Philosophical Undertones**
- The poem subtly aligns with existentialist ideas, where meaning is found in the fleeting, finite nature of life rather than in promises of eternity.
### **Overall Impact**
This work resonates as a critique of conventional religious ideals about the afterlife, celebrating the beauty and significance of mortal experiences. It invites readers to cherish life's impermanence as a source of meaning and creativity.
Author Archive
The Beauty of Mortality
Tuesday, December 17th, 2024Brigid of Kildare
Tuesday, December 17th, 2024She sings to help the living and the dead
She sings to help the poets find their song
Tis Brigid of Kildare who fills my head
And shows the words I write where they belong
She told me once of Coventina’s sin
She told me Coventina fell in love
A mortal man whose name she said was Finn
A poet’s story Brigid told me of
I wrote it down to honor it and her
A story made of words that must be told
Upon my page the words I did confer
I picture her as never growing old
A poet and a muse, with long red hair
She comes to me as Brigid of Kildare
The Magician
Friday, December 13th, 2024
The Magus (or Magician if you must)
Is he-behind-the-sleight-of-hand you see
He tells you things that you should never trust
Like how to be and also not to be
Magician (or The Magus, take your pick)
Performs the best when he is paid in gold
Simplicity is such a simple trick
Like magic that is heard but never told
Above, below, he’s somewhere in between
Where magic is the mover and the art
He’ll show you things you’ll wish you’d never seen
Like flowers that aspire in your heart
The Magus or Magician seems to be
A fool in search of some divinity.
________________________________________
Image by Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951)
The Fool
Thursday, December 12th, 2024
The Fool begins a journey without end
A journey that’s forever and a day
To find true wisdom and perhaps a friend
Bewrayment are the words he’ll never say
Delirium and frenzy are his dance
A solitary dance to find a song
But if your paths should cross by circumstance
He’ll call to you to come and sing along
I know we’ve all been called at times to sing
And dance the tarantella like a fool
Perhaps he really thinks that he’s the king
And everyone must bow before his rule
His Highness is the Fool that we all know
Wherever he proceeds, we all must go.
________________________________________
Image by Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951)
The Man From Grants Pass
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024
Sophia
Friday, December 6th, 2024I love Sophia like my love is new
Sophia knows my love transcends my heart
Imagine, if you will what she can do
Fulfilling her divine and noble part
Sophia is her wisdom and her grace
A god to worship everywhere she’s found
A god who knows her high and holy place
She speaks to me at times without a sound
At times I hear the music of her voice
Within the words I find I need to write
To signify that my belief is choice
I choose to dwell within her holy light
Sophia has been with me from the start
Within the thoughts that dwell within my heart.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Saturday, November 30th, 2024I danced with Mary Wollstonecraft last week
Then danced with Mary Shelley late last night
I asked them both if they would let me speak
I heard them laugh and tell me that they might
I only had to find bright words to say
To garner their permission to be heard
The Mary of my heart will always stay
If I present her with a fitting word
And so we dance with language as our tune
We dance as though we are ménage à trois
Our voltas always seem to come too soon
Or late. They always seem to bear some flaw
But Mary knows that words are only games
And that is why she uses both her names.
The Gnosis of Mary Magdalene
Friday, November 29th, 2024The Mary of Magdala came to know
That knowledge of the self is most divine
The paths of Galilee where she would go
Revealed such things to her by their design
Salvation is complete when one is whole
To know oneself, salvation may be found
The beauty of the spirit of the soul
Reveals itself as one eternal round
The Mary of Magdala lives within
The gnosis she discovered and now shares
To mark the paths where knowledge will begin
It shows how much this holy Mary cares
Her gnosis has a firm but subtle call
She learned this truth and teaches it to all.
White Lady
Monday, November 11th, 2024
She floats above the village streets at night
In search of some forgotten tale of old
Her ghostly form is beautiful and white
Her ghostly tale is one that's often told
Her life became the sorrow of remorse
Her death became the sorrow all can feel
A ghostly essence runs its ghostly course
A hidden tale the teller can reveal
The teller of her tale this time is me
I saw her in the village where I live
She seemed to know the tale she sought to be
In me she found a teller she could give
Her tale of unrequited love and more
Of life and death, a dark unopened door.
Why Sonnets
Friday, November 8th, 2024I think the world needs sonnets to survive
Survival is the perfect lyric art
The sonnet form, a heartbeat still alive
The perfect sonnet dwells within the heart
The heart of every poet beats in time
With nature, like a song of subtle love
The love of every sonnet is sublime
Like rains that quench the world from clouds above
The sonnet turns its theme to fit the sound
Of everything the human heart might hear
It finds its voice where every voice is found
It sings to every person, far and near
Survival of the sonnet, on the whole
A metaphor of our collective soul.