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radical druid Posts

The Echo Cages: rubai

You can twist and turn them round
and then pretend they are profound,
but words are just like prison bars
constructing cages out of sound

we carry with us, though we are
fine specks of dust from the small stars
flung out and free in space and time.
We dare not travel quite that far.

We seek the edges, so we climb
until no longer in our prime,
and then, collapse back into sleep,
almost like death, but more sublime.

We use our words to laugh and weep,
and waste them, thinking they are cheap.
By this illusion we are bound,
just echoes in a boundless deep.

27 Jun 2025

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The Use of Sorrow: roundelay

What’s the use in all this crying
and a slow descent to madness
because our illusions, dying,
strip away the veil of gladness
we spend our lifetime denying,
just to wallow in our sadness?

Because our illusions, dying,
strip away the veil of gladness,
give us reasons to stop trying
and give up on the whole business
we spend our lifetime denying,
just to wallow in our sadness.

Give us reasons to stop trying
and we succumb to the madness,
selling out in hopes of buying
something more than a betweenness
we spend our lifetime denying
just to wallow in our sadness.

Selling out in hopes of buying
something more than a betweenness,
we free fall but think we’re flying
through the clouds, beyond the blackness
we spend our lifetime denying
to not wallow in our sadness.

27 Jun 2025

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What Would Become: rondine

What would become of me without ambition,
a driving force to make some kind of mark,
to cast my feeble light out in the dark
and so improve my overall condition?
To otherwise behave suggests perdition,
a life led without purpose or benchmark.
What would become of me?

If I accomplish nothing, what derision
will others heap upon my useless mission,
assuming I’m a bum lost in the park,
my fortune come to nil and prospects stark?
What would become of me?

26 Jun 2025

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The Passing Game

When someone says we’re out of time, so what?
What difference does one more minute make,
if it’s just on or off, open or shut,
and more of just the same old tired mistakes?

When someone says we’re out of time, does that
mean everything so far is done in vain,
as if one’s whole lifespan’s a welcome mat
for one more doorway labeled “Try Again”?

When someone says we’re out of time, just think:
so much can happen in a minute’s span.
There in the space between two quick eye-blinks
eternity awaits your stretched out hand.

When someone says we’re out of time, hold on,
and just because the clocks have stopped to run
that every opportunity is gone.
If you get just a moment, choose this one.

When someone says we’re out of time, alas,
if only there were more of life than this,
remember, neither water nor the glass
sees anything half-empty or remiss.

When someone says we’re out of time, watch out!
They’re trying to convince you it’s the end,
and in that final moment, raise some doubt
that we are all impermanent, my friend.

When someone says we’re out of time, beware,
they want your share of minutes for their own,
as if there isn’t time enough to spare
between just what you see, and what is shown.

When someone says we’re out of time, big deal.
The end and the beginning are the same.
Who cares that you might miss the big reveal:
all life is just a moment’s passing game.

26 Jun 2025

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Outside of Time: rondelet

We’re out of time,
past the hour when clocks expire.
We’re out of time,
beyond this moment’s final chime.
We can exist, if we desire,
right now – and never age or tire.
We’re out of time.

We’re out of time.
When the last flame has left the fire
we’re out of time.
In desperation, on we climb,
the dreams to which our hearts aspire
still waiting, listening to that liar:
we’re out of time.

We’re out of time,
past all that counting, muck and mire.
We’re out of time,
Where all the world exists in rhyme
and we can join in with the choir,
with nothing left us to acquire:
we’re out of time.

26 Jun 2025

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Blame the Mess: rondel supreme

The world’s become a ghastly mess,
and we have just ourselves to blame.
What good is keeping score? The game
we’re playing, who can guess?

There’s no use wailing in distress,
or pointing fingers. What a shame
the world’s become a ghastly mess,
and we have just ourselves to blame.

If we were honest, we’d confess
our guilt in making things so lame.
We hate the rich, but want the same,
no matter who must live with less.
The world’s become a ghastly mess,
and we have just ourselves to blame.

25 Jun 2025

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Ways and Means: rondel

The means you use always define the end.
If that end is not beautiful, you know
somewhere beyond the last, most recent bend,
your principles dissolved into mere show,

that sense of purpose lost in “let’s pretend”
where only ambiguity can grow.
The means you use always define the end.
If that end is not beautiful, you know.

There is no point in trying to defend
that act that gave your truth a fatal blow,
the consequence you swore to not intend.
Once you are caught up in the undertow,
the means you use always define the end.
If that end is not beautiful, you know.

25 Jun 2025

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