Life in a Minor Key

[Fire Monkey]

My life has been a song written in a minor key
And you can sing along if you're as sad as me
The thunder is the bass line and the birds sing harmony
With the shadows joining in to give it melody

The rain falls soft upon me from what seems a sunny sky
And I never can be sure if it's rain or from my eye
I wander down a path that I'll walk until I die
And it not the way I planned so I have to wonder why

But I'm working through a list of the things that must be done
Though I know I'll never win until after I have won
And my conversations falter in light from the setting sun
And I just keep on walking for I don't know how to run

And so the road lays out before me in a kind of pantomime
I am just a broken poet who's forgotten how to rhyme
And I'd stop to smell the flowers if I only had the time
So I guess I'll have to smell them in the corners of my mind

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Copyright January 4, 2013 by Timothy Emil Birch

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Just a quick comment - don't let this poem cause you to worry - though it does contain things I have from time to time felt and thought, it is not an indication that I am feeling down or anything.

[diannet]

Fire Monkey those first two stanza's are lovely and very lyrical. Indeed this poem could be a song. I had a little thought, what if the second stanza became a refrain? I read it a few times and then read the second stanza between the third and fourth then finished with it... I just wondered if you may have thought song initially.? Anyway it was just a thought. I'm so glad this is not how your feeling at present and you are certainly not a poet who has forgotten how to rhyme.

[Fire Monkey]

I think that is a great suggestion - although I was thinking in terms of a song, it never occurred to me. Silly old monkey that I am

[Neal Allen (snowtracks)]

I like Dianne's suggestions.

Remember that some of the most amazing music is written in Minor keys. In fact I often think that Minor keys are more interesting if more plaintiff than the majors. We each have a role to play in this sometimes harsh world and the more sensitive one is the more likely one will be to doubt ourselves at times.

I specially like the comparison between the rain and the tears of the poet.

[Bhavanidevi]

I really liked this poem. The line that "caught" me especially is "The rain falls soft upon me from what seems a sunny sky." I know that feeling. Also liked the "Broken Poet who's forgotten how to rhyme." But then as Leonard Cohen so wisely said, "There is a crack in everything. That's how the Light gets in."

So glad to have a chance to read and appreciate your work. Like I said, I really liked it.

[Fire Monkey]

I'm glad people have enjoyed the poem - been so busy with things of late that I have not been on as much as I would have liked so it's nice to get on and find these comments.