Sunday 23 June 2019

Two more




XIV.


The gallery halls of history are
crowded with the victory lists
now tell me about those who were
eliminated by its twists.

The unrecorded hoi polloi
who wove the carpet, served the bread,
cleaned the stables day after day,
sorted the mail, counted the heads,

the ones who had the silver spoons
only to polish and lay back,
their boards were sparse, their plates were crude -
not the type anyone would track.

Speak of the ninety nine percent
to whom history was indifferent.




XVIII.


Speak of those who sang note perfect
raising the tunes in unison
off screen and on, across the stage
yet no glory was ever won.

Those who sang anthems, raised slogans,
matched their steps and marched for miles,
cared nothing for repercussions,
but never got to reach the aisles.

The stable hand who trained the colt,
the jockey who reined in the horse.
The race driver - not at the pole
but the last chap who stayed the course.

Speak of the ninety nine percent
who don’t win but are persistent.



This ended up as an out-of-control 21X14 matrix :) and it has been written as it came so here are two more from the same series. Hopefully it's out of my system now....


Have the most amazing summer/winter!

12 comments:

  1. Love them both.
    I have noticed that those who believe they have lived previous lives often are convinced that they were princesses/doughty warriors.
    Much like the hidden women I am MUCH more interested in the hidden lives. The insignificant but oh so essential lives...

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    1. Not me. I'm definitely part of the teeming unrecorded :) possibly been a bookbinder or stonemason in some previous life, maybe a cook/cleaner/spoon polisher for a Mughal commander sometime...Thanks EC you and I think much alike!

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  2. Hari OM
    The series marches to its own tune, Nila - it's fabulous! YAM xx

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    1. Thanks, Yamini. Most of my poetry does exactly as it pleases...

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  3. Hi Nila - these are wonderful ... I'm sure I've missed a couple and will find them in Feedly soon I hope!
    Speak of the ninety nine percent
    those who are quietly decent ...

    Love the way you've crafted them ... you too have a lovely summer - cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks for being here Hilary. The decent types have remained and continue to remain quieter and therefore more difficult to find...

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  4. nifty series that flows. And yes, the quiet ones keep the world churning. So many details we take for granted in our lives - 24/7 somebody is doing something for us.
    Summer is in full swing now in TX - plenty hot and humid.

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    1. It's awful hot here too - desert temps. It's so true that 24/7 somewhere someone is doing something to make our lives smoother.

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  5. I was never a princess either. Craft woman perhaps before we were seamstresses, or farmer wife, maybe midwife.

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    1. Yeah, we've all been farmers and farmers' wives in some life...

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