poetry diary

This is a poem I wrote nearly 25 years ago, in 1986, which I am going to rewrite in the next few days in response to a prompt from we write poems. It reads as a little artificial to me now, but I do still like the gentle rhyming and its simplicity, and I think I just allowed the words to flow with the rhythm. I was doing an engineering degree at the time, if this is any excuse (?). It’s a bit odd seeing how long ago this was – and I still exist (and write poems)!

Existence but a line
in the poetry of the world.
Love no more than a rhyme
in a stanza of life’s ode.

The soft consistent beauty
of every grain and cell,
a source of constant bounty
for all to read and tell.

In myriad interpretation
verses might shift and change,
but no sum of contemplation
can rearrange the page.

One instant understanding,
time then turns your head,
and views always appearing
in different hues are read.

Seek not imposed uniqueness –
the words alone are fixed.
For each in their uniqueness
to diff’rent meanings led.

© 1986 Matthew Rhodes