Poets of Life

Canto I: Tumultuous

EPIC POEM: POETS OF LIFE

©5-14-2019, Olan L. Smith

Canto I

Tumultuous

Halfway through my life I fell upon my knee,

In the field of corn I awoke, as lifted up, and

Dropped by a mighty wind. Tall stalks flattened,

Strewn in a vortex, I was amazed I survived.

What world was I on, who was I, even more, what

Animal was I? All memory erased; I was expunged.

I saw the world from the view of a pinprick punched

Into my awareness. I wondered, and what I saw

Was order. A holy order of geometry, of wholeness.

I cannot remember who I am, but I am. I stand in

The middle of a field that is destroyed, but I must push

Forward. Will my fate be that of lambs slain by

The butchery of life? I see the clouds part, the rains

Stop, and the winds calm. As my vision widens, I know

I am on Earth. Planet Earth; blessed are you by the gods.

As Helios senses me, I view many paths to him,

And I ponder which ray will lead me to my thoughts?

I am lost in a dark prison of tangled nerves and delusions.

I remember this fear returned from youth, of my elders

Who in their agedness are stripped of self, and abandon

By the gods. As a young lad, I was overly offset,

Pompous, thinking this would never happen to me,

But here I stand in the middle of a whirlwind grasping

For a blade of grass, straight and without knots.

At night I awake, short of breath from a wandering dream,

Of dreamers dreaming reality. I am disoriented,

In the field of corn. Who is left to define me; my life,