Know by Now: a poetry post

I've been working on a couple of structures of poems lately. The sonnet (as in my poem 'Confusion'), and another structure inspired by Muse's song Butterflies and Hurricanes (I would so love to sing that song in a choir). I mentioned in yesterday's post that I was using this structure to write a magickal poem which I haven't really finished faffing with, so I'm not sharing that.

However, this morning I woke up with a different song in my head - Munich by the Editors:

and I've taken that as a jumping off point for another poem using the same (kind of) structure. My kids helped me work it out this morning, so let me know what you think.

I'm joining up with the Prose for Thought linky with this post (click on the picture below to find out more), and also The Prompt (see picture also). The Prompt for this week is 'respect'.

For the last few months I've been troubled by a really chuffing painful shoulder. I thought it might be getting better at one point, but it's not, yet. I'm having to take medication all the time to manage the pain, it's uncomfortable to lie down and I have very limited mobility in that arm. I can't lift my children up, or yank their boots off, or countless other things. So it's not just my body that's in pain. I'm sad too. Sad and tired and just worn down. So I am not strong enough for people taking the mickey out of me, and out of the adjustments I am having to make to cope with this situation. They might be trying to be funny or something, but I haven't got the energy to see the funny side, and I end up just feeling more isolated.

Recently, someone I thought was a friend has demonstrated that they're not, and it's knocked me for six. So this poem is about respect, about bearing in mind that whatever you can see, whatever you think you know, each person has stuff going on that you may not know about, and even if you do, you only know what they are willing to show, so try to be kind, to show respect.

Know by Now

People are so fragile.
To learn that takes a while,
but you should know by now
that spirits break easy:
Stopping isn't lazy.
It helps to work out how
to go on. Sing the song
of life and living long.
Feeling strong. Going on.
In the sun we belong.
We know by now.

© Cara L McKee 17th March 2016

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February update!

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