Thursday, May 31, 2012

Why I Write...



I never can explain it quite
This need, it seems I have, to write…
But paper is a patient ear
No words are writ, it will not hear
It never assumes what is not
But simply listens to my thought
Here life's pleasures and sorrows spill
In whispers from a poet’s quill

I write to preserve moments past
Knowing ink’s measure will outlast
This transient, ephemeral shell
I write, for there is much to tell
But time is short and listeners rare
And spoken word is soon dead air
Thus I must write; a diary
Of thought engraved in poetry

I write because I love to read
To feel the passion mortal’s bleed
To thrill beneath their ageless thought
The mark of quill on parchment wrought
Of Tennyson, Longfellow, Frost
And countless throngs of voices lost
Had they not taken time to bare
With ink, the thoughts they longed to share

Tis no small thing to hold a pen
And spill heart-linings out to men
Of hope, of longing; these we summon
For mankind has this much in common
And with the written word we trace
The heartbeat of the human race
Manifested on a stage
In filament of ink and page

 
Tis no small thing; reaching to God
Seeking Him within my thought
Tis no small thing to contemplate
What to write; what to erase
…to paint in whispered ethereal art
Upon canvases of the heart
An earnest, resolute vocation
Generation to generation

…and so I write, not to become
A famous author, world-renowned
I write to touch the low-flung cloud
Or lonely souls lost in life’s crowd
I write; for it seems I cannot
Quell the vast ocean in my thought
And I am glad, so glad indeed
That others write, so I can read

© Janet Martin

My Homework for Writer's Unite is done!
Assignment: 200-300 words on Why I Write

Word Count;300 (phew!)

What are you doing? hubby asked a few nights ago when he called
I'm reading Treasure Valley, I replied. It was written in 1908 by Canadian author, Marian Keith.
Thank-you Marian,(although you were gone before I was born) for writing and sharing your beautiful, timeless perspective.

8 comments:

  1. Thank-you Anthony...an artist is a writer too with works that outlast breath.We share a common passion, don't we?

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  2. That is lovely, particularly the last verse - would make a lovely stitchery picture.

    I love writing too, indeed it's why I started blogging in the first place.

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  3. Thank-you Jan May! may we inspire each other!

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  4. Can completely relate to this poem. :) Thanks for sharing it!

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  5. I had to come and hunt this down after you read it last night at the meeting. I just had to read it myself. I am in awe. Lovely work Janet.

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