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Monday 10 December 2012

on not being positive...

I'd often thought one day I might,
but now the world's in such a plight
I don't know if I will at all --
I might just go and have a ball.
A ball is what I'm needing now,
a crystal ball to tell me how
and when and where and what to share --
and most of all, if I would dare.

I asked the guy behind the bar
who thought that things had gone too far.
He'd tried himself to do it once --
on Bournemouth Sands -- and felt a dunce
to see it all go up in flames...
thought me too old to play such games.
His last idea was Get out quick:
These Hooray Johnnies make me sick! 

A funeral man with horse-drawn hearse
said he had done it with his nurse,
a friend had tried it on the horse --
mainly using chilli sauce.
He'd heard of such things tried at wakes --
They're not all beer or tea and cakes!
He'd found it, though, a strange affair.
(Illegal now, so have a care...)

Illegal gave a certain frisson...
but not enough to go to prison.
I could have gone for it in France
(where it's become a form of dance).
I saw it on the Metro done,
and in the mountains, just for fun.
More seriously, the Eiffel Tower
was  venue for a bid for power.

So now I don't know what to do --
and indecision makes me blue.
My ex-inspector used to say:
Be pro-active every day.
Make your mind up early on,
then stick to it -- you'll not go wrong! 
But to the contrary, I'd find
I'd get a boost from change of mind.

The positives were plain to see,
but this conundrum puzzles me.
I'm certain now, I've missed my chance...
I'll wallow in insouciance,
although that isn't really me --
I'm serious, dynamic. See?
I pray you all, my friends, will find
the power that goes with change of mind.

11 comments:

Brian Miller said...

hehe...and here i was about to get some chili sauce and a horse....smiles...there is much power in a changed mind...thanks for the smile to go with the wisdom today sir...

Tabor said...

It is hard to change ones mind...but it must be done.

A Cuban In London said...

Ha, it's the first time that I see horse and chilli sauce in the same sentence without one being the culinary accompaniment to the other. :-) That was fun to read. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

Mary said...

I like the idea of making up one's mind early on and sticking to it.

And as far as having missed your chance, I would say there are always more chances. And if they don't present themselves in reality you have my permission to use poetic license.

Anonymous said...

Ha. This is so well-done, Dave. I am a questioner of others and a mind changer, so much appreciates this. It is told in such a funny way and terrific that the "it" melts to something rather u important on the poem. Even with the regrets. Just terrific. K.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

What a delicious dance of a poem.

Cloudia said...

You are our Kipling of the pixels for a new time. This could be distributed around like "IF."
On my way now to do my part.
A perfect, worthwhile Poem.


Ole` !


Wishing YOU
an Aloha-filled week, from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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><}}(°> ~

Elephant's Child said...

Shades of J Alfred Prufrock for me - a poem I have loved for a looooong time. Thank you.

Unknown said...

indecision plagues me all the time. Really a nicely done write Dave. I really like the lines you ended with a word or a thought and picked it right back up, often shifting directions a bit the following lines. Love the humor in here as well. Thanks

haricot said...

We all live in unknown moments and being not positive sometimes could protects ourselves...and you will make your atitude when something will be more perspective.

Dave King said...

Brian
Thanks Brian. Much appreciated

Tabor
Sometimes it must, yes. Thanks.

A Cuban in London
Great response. Thanks.

Mary
Poetic license it is, then. Stand by your beds! (Much thanks.)

manicddaily
Thanks for this Really pleasing to know that you saw it this way.

Tommaso
Great description. Very kind. Thanks.

Cloudia
The Kipling of the pixels, eh? Ah, but I think I see what you are getting at! much thanks.

The Elephant's Child
Me too. My all time favourite. (One of them!) So a big thank you. Quite a compliment in my book.

Fred
Thanks a lot for this. It really means a lot to know you saw it this way.

haricot
Good point, that we live in unknown moments. Quite a thought, that. Needs exploring! Thanks.