Poetry: #82 One of These Days (Demise 20)
And my thoughts after revisiting the words
One of These Days
One of these days the sunset will mark the ending of my final day in solitary. That is the day in which all of my suffering will accumulate in the cemetery. Need I say more? The final cut that rips life and soul and creates a hole, That is my ticket to release what I have pent-up to cease. My feelings have caused an irreparable tumor in magnitude. My heart races at the thought of being with you in attitude. My life taken from me by a hand of some greater wisdom, One with a plan and I hope it works better than mine. It is hard knowing I have failed aspirations, And I see the solution as waiting for some ration to my mind as it slowly dies. My eyes drop their gaze from the black holes in the mirror and my thoughts drift away from such fear. I know my peace will be sown in the justified actions that should make me atone. But I won’t, not to satisfy Fate’s hand of justice but to rather make the final cut on my own. I will leave that wall as a reminder to any who seek to escape their future but to know that I accepted mine, on my terms. One of these days I will speak again. One of these days I will retain. One of these days I will stand. One of these days the sun will set. One of these days I will pay this debt.
What are your thoughts on this poem?
My Thoughts on Demise 20
The narrator is back to his meandering thoughts again. Talking about what the future could have been and what might come “one of these days”. He may still have poetic thoughts but the meaning is clear from the very first lines to the last lines. He is in solitary and he knows that he will end up in the cemetery for his actions. He even says the executioner, albeit vaguely, will need greater wisdom from something beyond humanity so that the executioner can live with themselves when all is said and done.
The man thinks about all that could have been his aspirations, and how none of them will be realized. If I were writing this poem today I would have slid in “this is the price” or “the price one must pay” to reference “The Price” but I will not be adding a line, not here and not now. But I think that would be a great line. He must pay the price for his actions, the consequence to his emotion, and as close as he must be to the end, he is thinking about what could’ve been. He’s thinking about the future, a future that the present will take from him. He has no control over what is going to happen, not much anyway.
All he has is what’s left in his cell. He looks at the mirror and sees himself for what he’s become: diminished. Even so, he refuses to repent. He doesn’t want to. He doesn’t care to. Why? Why repent when others won’t forgive? That is why modern Christians struggle if you ask me. They can be zealots in their morals and principles, hypocrisy aside for the moment, and demand that others live like them. This was the evangelic plight of the 80s and 90s and it backfired. Why? Because there was little room for repentance, there was no true forgiveness found after admitting faults, and that makes it hard to accept such people as genuine. Luke 17 1-4 is how Christians ought to go about things with fellow Christians, yet they don’t. People see that and scoff at the idea of Christianity as a result. This man scoffs at “Fate” because he doesn’t see anyone allowing him to repent. Whether he would or not, that is a mystery.
Question Section
Do you rebuke others in your life when they are failing their self-professed morals code? Have you ever refused to forgive someone? What about allowing grace for others to repent? These ideas aren’t unique to Christians or Christianity, they are good concepts to live by. Let me know your thoughts and answers in the comments section.
I hear another poem is coming every Saturday!