Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Outside Inside


SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

THE OUTSIDE INSIDE!

A shady summer room;
Peaceful in the gloom,
Suddenly invaded
By something quite unshaded!
A dazzle on the wall
A geometric scrawl.
The rectangles competing
With diamonds! What a meeting!
A zebra-crossing at the centre
Says 'Stop the sun! It must not enter!'
*
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WAR AND PEACE

We live in the best and the worst of times;
Medical breakthroughs, heinous crimes.
But maybe it was always so;
Man soars high but Man sinks low.
The difference is that, nowadays,
Everything's in the public gaze!
Because of global communication
We're involved in every situation.
News from another distant place
Is taut, immediate, 'in yer face'!
'No man is an island' any more!
I wince at the world's remotest war!
I beam when, by satellite, I'm assured
That some obscure illness will be cured!
Maybe all this modern tension
Results from modern misapprehension;
That everything is affecting 'us',
Benefit and blunderbuss!
Tribal conflicts once took place
In some strange far-distant place;
Not heard of for a month or two,
There was nothing that one could do.
In this frenetic modern era,
All is instant, louder, clearer.
But I don't think the human race
Is any more brilliant, any more base
Than it was a thousand years ago.
Well-being was always matched with woe.
'The best of times, the worst of times'?
I'll blot it out by writing rhymes!

7 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Great shadow shot for the day, Brenda! And fun words to match! Unfortunately the War and Peace is all to true and that's not fun! Hope your weekend is going well!

Sylvia

EG CameraGirl said...

Lovely shadow shot! Love your line about the zebra crossing! You made me smile.

Anonymous said...

Hello Brenda:

We've met through Poets United, on my other blog, The Imaginative Traveler. This is my first Shadow Sunday, but I do know it will not be my last!

Love your shadow picture, and your poem is wonderful...I still call them zebra crossings too, after growing up in Britain!

And the war poem is so effective. An interesting mixture of light and dark in your post, in more ways than one...

Lynette

Unknown said...

What a great shadow shot, and fun words to go with the photo

wanderlust said...

Great photo, great rhymes, too!

Margaret Gosden said...

Superb shadow shot and rime! And love the second
image of the dove, too.

Limarea said...

Lovely shadows :)