Carpe diem? sweet, yet meet? … whimsical? smart? how do I start? … <br />On a birthday, it’s worth saying something special from the heart. <br /> <br />While I’ve penned all kinds of rhymes— ahead, behind the times, a range— <br />Some in verse that’s terse, some florid, others horrid, stanzas strange… <br /> <br />Here are couplets spare, to share a word about aesthetic voice <br />And tell of those who, heaven knows, feel impelled. These have no choice. <br /> <br />Force driven, from a passion given or a pull linguistic, <br />They have to make their plea— to make us see— by means artistic. <br /> <br />To psyches nourish with a flourish to seek heights where dreams dare— <br />Souls entice through paint’s device— takes more than mere inventive flair. <br /> <br />Although Joyce’s knack most lack or Molly Bloom’s, yes, claim to fame… <br />Still a spark might light that could ignite a literary flame. <br /> <br />When in dim creative burn, one struggles just to turn the page— <br />Push on to… and puzzle through… a painful poem’s final stage. <br /> <br />Midst seas of jocund companies, I would seek to speak from shore, <br />Hope to leave behind a line of mine that wasn’t there before… <br /> <br />Meantime delight in what is left, each strophe deft… to the end… <br />Where we blind may find someday someway unwinds beyond that bend… <br /> <br />I’ll stop the Harley parley now— sing appreciation ‘cheers’… <br />For encore add, ‘many more birthdays galore… and relished years! ’ <br /> <br /> <br />(March 2010 – Granada, Spain)<br /><br />Harley White<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/genethliac/
