Some People I Know
Photo: copyright, James Rainsford
Some people I know
have failed to grow.
Others sprout poison like weeds.
Still more root in gravel,
or travel like seeds
blown by winds and
bending like reeds.
Some whom I’ve loved
have shriveled and died,
been cast upon compost,
or broadcast so wide
their memory fades
like the flowers of spring.
Yet some have blossomed,
to make my heart sing.
©James Rainsford 2013
have failed to grow.
Others sprout poison like weeds.
Still more root in gravel,
or travel like seeds
blown by winds and
bending like reeds.
Some whom I’ve loved
have shriveled and died,
been cast upon compost,
or broadcast so wide
their memory fades
like the flowers of spring.
Yet some have blossomed,
to make my heart sing.
©James Rainsford 2013
Note to readers: Posted to Open Link Night at dVerse Poets. Your views are welcome and I'll respond to all who visit here and leave a comment.
A beautiful example of human nature and life.
ReplyDeleteLovely write so many flowers in the garden to enjoy for a season or more.
ReplyDeleteit is like the parable of the seeds...and on the surface it is hard to tell in looking at someone which they are...but the ones that do blossom, they make the journey of life truly worth it...
ReplyDeletePeople are like that. Someone I know - and thought a beautiful flower - has just become poison ivy...
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
yes, but the compost brings life to life
ReplyDeletegood write
It was writing like this that first inspired my own attempts. So smooth and perfect, All I could want in a poem. Excellente!
ReplyDeleteJames, that is song as in sweetness not grumpy like your blog implies. Sounds like truth.
ReplyDeleteSeeds scatter, and that's the flower's real function...it can't care about what happens next...just that some of its own beauty lives on. This is lovely work with the metaphor.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Thank you for the trip to the land of memories inspired by this poem.
ReplyDeletePeace
What an ending. I enjoyed a trip through memories of people I have encountered, people I have loved and lost as I read your poem. In the end, I was grateful for those who are present. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteIt takes all kinds of people to make the world - but we really do need more of the ones who will help us to grow so we can live life to the full as they do. There don't seem to be too many of them about these days.
ReplyDeletecomparing souls to seeds and nature and growth and death and some wondering...beautiful..thank you
ReplyDeleteSuch vivid and accurate comparisons.... What a joy to read. And it makes me wonder which one am I? Or others I know? I suppose, that just like plants we can grow... go throw stages and lifetimes... always reaching towards the sun and aspiring to blossom into something buzzworthy..... =)
ReplyDeleteThank you for this.