What The Earth Will Come To
'if i can't have this then i am nothing'
said the upturned earth
after it had been shattered by the tempest
and left in pieces
'and living as nothing
is worse than not living'
broken fragments strewn about
caught in the wind now
gone forever, and that was all the earth could take
'dying never feels so good
as when you are becoming something through it'
i think it was true at that moment
perhaps to you simply a
horrid and terrific and desperate thought
who didn't feel what it felt
but i think for that broken earth it was true
and i think for that broken earth it was valid
i think it had good reason to mean what it said
to say that
'dying has never felt so good'
and
'dying has never been so right'
and it stared empty, vacant, and said
'all i can do is sleep
when my reason to stay awake is gone
and i am left as nothing
mock me, mock me, for wasting so much
soon i will be too dead to hear you'
posted by steph @ 2:28 PM
2 Comments:
Dark, but enticing.
The central idea, I think, is one that I've always enjoyed. It's the same idea (in a way) behind Chuck Palahniuk's books (Fight Club, Choke...) and a large part of the Christian tradition (often associated with asceticism). There are times when, indeed,
'dying has never felt so good'
and
'dying has never been so right'
After all, "It's only once you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."
But there is confusion in this poem, and while the object referred to may not be exactly the same, I think it's the same confusion that arises in the tradition. Having embraced death and the decay of one's self, the rebirth at the end of it is forgotten. It's the resurrection that gives the Passion its meaning, but often the bloody glory of the Passion takes over and the resurrection becomes mere marginalia.
I'm a bit off topic. This isn't what I'd planned to write about.
At any rate, I like the poem. I love the idea of beautiful decay. Even more, I love the way the poet's refusal to care draws in the reader.
"if i can't have this then i am nothing...and living as nothing is worse than not living"
And we say, “how true.” We say, “let’s all just die together.” It reminds of a Metric song, with Emily Haines singing in her soft, careless voice:
Sickness was fixing me some
Coughed out my heart in the last stall
Now that the damage is done
I never miss it at all
and we ARE all dying together...
what is the inevitable destination of every single man that has ever been born into this world? after ambitions and adventures and all that activity that characterizes our passing time, stroke by stroke of the clock? it is to die.
it's a strange way to look at the world, for sure, but we are all - some walking, some running, some more aware, some not aware at all, some scared, some eager, some indifferent - together making our way towards our deaths.
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