BOUNDARIES

BOUNDARIES

Talking to himself
was making him irate,
So he set about finding someone
with whom
to debate.

The strictest of rules
he set down for me
How then is it
that I am so free?

In the boundaries themselves
must lie the trick.
These ropes of freedom
are ever so thick.

Where ever could come
ideas like that?
They must have come
from a sweat stained hat.

There is a secret also
in my name.
Remember who also
carried the same.

She sprang full grown
from the head of Zeus.
for a life of her own
did she get loose.

No more am I his
than Zeus owned her.
Are you beginning
to see the picture?

I am still under strict control,
as the world I patrol.
And I remain within my station,
which only consists
of every time and nation.

I, like her,
no real surprise
am a master
of disguise.

There was one night
in a terrible fright
I knew he was dying
would never get up
from where he was lying.

Disguised as his own true love
did I hover there above.
without a look I went away
and didn't come back 'til yesterday.

It may seem mean
but what else could be done
then to show him
that death
is bound to hurt someone.

He made it as far as to the floor
about the time
I slipped through the door.
There he collapsed
a terrible mess.
I was still watching
I must confess.

I just couldn't see wandering
forever in shame,
knowing I had done nothing
to rekindle a flame
that really deserves
to keep living.
Yes, there is something left
to be giving.

Thena
February 12, 1997

By way of explanation

I just recently found a backup disk of my old GeoCities website.
GeoCities quit doing free webpages and deleted my stuff.
As far as I recall, this poem was not published in any other manner.
Wayback machine didn't turn it up.

So this should be the only extant publication.

1995-2000 were my peak years of writing.
I'm kind of coasting down hill these days.

a reply to: pthena

Very good!
The soup: she is thick, with many possibilities.

If you're coasting downhill: are you enjoying it?

a reply to: Nothin

If you're coasting downhill: are you enjoying it?

It's a little bit frustrating.
When I look for inspiration for a story I end up back then.
The exciting experience full part of life seems to be in the past.

"In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul."

- Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe, and Everything.

a reply to: pthena

Wise old dawgs don't leap-up with the energy of spry dumb puppies.

Would it change anything: if one decides that getting older absolutely rocks?

Eliminate the negative. Accentuate the positive.

a reply to: Nothin
I should stop pretending to be older than I am.
'cause I'm hip like junk.

…
So you're kickin' back into a once kicked habit
Outta boredom
'cuz you were sharing
…
When you start lying to youself
Then don't come running back to me
I still remember the pathetic mess you used to be

Watched you bang, bang, bang your head against the
Bang, bang, bang your head against the wall
…
'cuz your hip like junk
Flash so bad
Oh wouldn't it be nice
To get what you had
Make it last, better and longer
Make it last, last a little longer
...
Oh wouldn't it be nice
Yeah wouldn't it be nice

To watch you bang, bang, bangin' your head against the
Bang, bang, bangin' your head against the wall

Old dawgs find different walls to bang their heads on, not the same old wall.

ETA:

I forgot to include why I picked a 7 Year Bitch song.

Some bands form, spend ten or so years writing and recording songs. Once they have a repertoire of hits they spend the rest of their lives performing the same hits in numerous venues, 30 or 40 years of repetition.

When 7 Year Bitch formed, they planned on doing seven years, then moving on to other goals and aspects in life. And so they did.