and what, after all, <br />was so wrong <br />with simple rhyme <br /> <br />and quaint folk <br />ballads of love? <br /> <br /> <br />have poets often <br />not been first <br />burst to spot <br /> <br />shape still forming from ground <br /> <br />dipped diamond-tipped pens <br />in pools of time <br /> <br />stirring up <br />currents of insights <br /> <br />that grew, in course <br />of time to waves? <br /> <br /> <br />do we not <br />compose, <br /> <br />solely for handfuls <br />of loyal listeners <br /> <br />bubblings up wellsprings, <br />words <br /> <br />meant merely to delight <br />and entertain the mind <br /> <br />moving heart to very muscle? <br /> <br /> <br />but what have all these labours <br />by we self-confessed saviours, <br /> <br />the 'unacknowledged legislators <br />of the world'* <br />produced? <br /> <br />a laugh or two? <br /> <br />maybe even a few <br />bucks on the side? <br /> <br />a moment's pride? <br /> <br />lifetimes <br />brain-busting <br />heart-bursting <br />outpourings <br /> <br />measuring, <br />on balance, <br /> <br />about a penny each? <br /> <br /> <br />yet still poets <br />ply trade <br />reporting, <br /> <br />as is calling, <br />pivot points of day- <br /> <br />so what can <br />such a minute <br />band of misfits, <br /> <br />forever at odds <br />with every era <br /> <br />do but <br />lift up <br />unheard voices <br /> <br />on behalf of <br />voiceless humanity? <br /> <br /> <br />*Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Defence of Poetry; 1821 <br /> <br />2/ february 12,2012<br /><br />doug bentley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-canadian-s-poem-1/