Celebrating Life with Poems about "Now"

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone at Deowriter for Roundup.

Here it's the eve of AGNES' entry to the world - for those of you who are interested, I am still taking octopus poems and art! Thanks to all of you, Octopus Month is going to be lots of fun.

And... it still feels like summer -- esp. when I received in the mail a late Summer Poem Swap from Iphigene, who joins us from the Philippines!

Iphigene wrote this poem after reading something on my blog: "All in nature is temporary."

Of Only Now

I wonder at the world,

its permanence --

the art of preservation

we've perfected

Photographs,

pressed flowers,

scrapbook, and 

Google drive.

Museums,

wax figures,

specimens, and

artifacts.

We preserve,

we save, all these

bits and pieces 

of what was

Grasping on our hands

an illusionary

immortality

that fades in time

Refusing the permanence

of temporary -

of life, of moments.

Missing in the beauty

of only now.

- Iphigene Daradar

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Isn't that lovely! And the art!! So many thanks to Iphigene for bringing such beauty to my day. And it reminded me of a villanelle I wrote recently on the same subject, so clearly my subconscious is working through some things. :)

Now

The kingdom of Now is everykid's land –

it doesn't discriminate; nows go on and on.

Just don't try to hold one in your hand;

Now slips through your fingers like sand.

Each Now is its own pink-streaked dawn

waking the kingdom: Now! In everykid's land,

Now doesn't shout or grandstand.

Step after step, it faces life's marathon.

Still, you can't hold Now in your hand.

Now is a tiny oasis is Time's wasteland.

It can be squandered in a yawn,

or it can build kingdoms in everykid’s land.

Now is the only moment at our command.

It appears suddenly, with the grace of a swan,

then soon swells – too big to hold in your hand.

Now marches with the faith of a one-man band,

endlessly teaching us to carry on.

The kingdom of Now is everykid's land;

just don't dare try to hold it in your hand.

- Irene Latham

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And now... the lake is calling! :) Thank you so much for reading!