Saturday, January 22, 2011

It All Depends


MELLOW YELLOW

IT ALL DEPENDS

It all depends on your point of view;
And that's entirely up to you.
Firmly position yourself askew
And this is what you'll see.
Just geometric bits of tin,
Round, triangular, thick or thin.
Where to end? Where to begin?
It's a yellow mystery.
*
But get your point of view just right,
A bit more left, a bit more right,
You'll see a more selective sight,
A bicycle, in view!
Train yourself to choose the spot,
To take the very nicest shot.
See what a lovely life you've got!
It all depends on you!
*
*

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Morbeli 
AGAINST THE GRAIN!

How picturesque!
I hear you say it!
The eyes have it, every time!
Now imagine!
Feel!
*
Feel the mud squelching
Between your toes.
Is it cold?
Maybe your feet are numb.
When you dry them by the fire tonight
They will ache,
A deep-in-the-bone
Ache.
*
Maybe today's mud is warm,
Warm from the bright sun
Beating on your back.
Maybe creatures from that warm soil
Are squeezing between your toes.
Do you shudder?
*
Peasant dresses
Add charm to the scene.
The hems are always wet,
Muddy wet.
Tomorrow morning today's mud will be caked-on.
Leave it!
Sponge it off on Sunday
For Mass.
*
You are always walking backwards,
Avoiding the young rice shoots.
You jostle the girl by your side;
You exchange angry words.
'Get on with it!'
Shouts the overseer.
*
Your back is bent so often
It wants to remain bent.
'Straighten-up!' says Mother
'Or you'll never get a husband!'
But your back aches!
How it aches!
*
Lucetta has straightened, briefly.
She pretends to fix her scarf,
In reality, she is easing her back.
The Overseer is not fooled.
'Keep up, that girl!'
He bellows.
She bends once more.
*
You glance at your hands.
Are they young?
Are they old?
They are pale, puffy, childlike.
Yet they are deeply wrinkled and aged.
So are your feet.
You will rub bacon fat into the lines when you reach home.
*
What a pretty picture!
* 

8 comments:

Short poems said...

Beautiful Verses, love it :)

Fay Campbell said...

Very nice. Both of them. I think maybe nice isn't the right word. Both draw me in with every sense. Very well done.

Kat said...

IT ALL DEPENDS:
See what a lovely life you've got!
It all depends on you!
Powerful words, putting life in its right perspective.

AGAINST THE GRAIN: What lovely poem... as we are an agricultural country, I felt so touched reading this poem.

there's a quote in tamil, which when roughly translated reads....

Unless we put our feet in the mud
you can't put your fingers in the rice (in the plate)

Unknown said...

wow, that's a brilliant sculpture!

i have never planted rice but i know it's not an easy task. we have a folk song about rice-planting that every Filipino child learns in grade school.:p

Mellow Yellow Monday

SquirrelQueen said...

Wise words and great shots.

It all depends, perspective is everything and your photos are a great example.
Through Squirrel Eyes

Liz said...

Love the poem!

Happy MYM.

Liz @ MLC

Marie said...

Great post. Interesting shots and a lovely poem.

Gengen said...

Oh that is a great poem...Happy MYM!