The lives we do not actually possess.
I struggled with a lonely crusade in my mind
recapturing their significance and meaning
to sacred rituals that drew us together here.
Then I preside the solemn liturgy of life,
qualifying the fading worth of our existence.
The solemn procession crawled through the assembly,
pass the aisle of believers whose faith was a shell
of all the ancient convictions of their forebears.
Their presence: a detente against the punishments
for sins they have committed, omitted and planned.
The much older folks wished the prayers were over,
as if once was just enough to move their vague gods.
The little ones made busy by technologies
sending messages to others whose god was lost
in the meaninglessness of Sunday exercise.
I intoned sacred verses from yellowed pages
of rubrical incantations and hallowed words:
the gathered crowd falling silent for a moment
for a fleeting unity we ceased pretending
to the lives we do not actually possess.
Font size:
Submitted by S07R06Enopena53 on April 26, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 7 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRBS |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 925 |
Words | 154 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The lives we do not actually possess." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/98406/the-lives-we-do-not-actually-possess.>.
Discuss the poem The lives we do not actually possess. with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In