Would you be crowned with jewels
or a garland of blooms?
a silence eternal or fleeting?
Would you seek a throne
or a resting place between?
a looking out or within?
perhaps a bed of meadow,
a ceiling of stars–
the earth beneath you—
Would you always be as you are?
or would you have your seasons,
knowing that change contains
both sweetness and sting—
that life gathers
in anticipation of emptying—
that everything constructs
the form that contains
its end?
More questions, for Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above.
Also linking to dVerse OLN, hosted by Mish.
K. 
Your last line is killer, literally. Metaphysics tells us to look within and without, that the solution to everything is an inside job, but out there in the cold nothing lies a billion billion solar systems, and multi-overlapping dimensions to boot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Glenn. We stand so small before it all.
LikeLike
This is lovely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Alethea,
LikeLiked by 1 person
ah yes. the trap of Form.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We can’t escape it.
LikeLike
Life gathers in anticipation of emptying. Wow.
I think this happens over and over in our existence.
What great writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Claudia. I think it does.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like one of Shakespeare’s wondering wanders….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jade. I don’t think I’m quite in that league though…
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re in another league, true, but a league.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your questions and the gentle way you pose them. This one especially resonates, “would you have your seasons,
knowing that change contains
both sweetness and sting?”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Vuctoria. Change is a challenge for all of us.
LikeLike
Good point about change. It contains “both sweetness and sting”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does. Thanks Frank.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is so thought provoking, Kerfe. It depends on a person’s nature, I think, as to whether they place power and wealth above other things in life. I have always put my children and my life above work and money.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Robbie. I think you have chosen well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every birth into form contains its own death… and I find that rather beautiful. As are your words and colors, Kerfe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great use of rhetorical questions and alternatives to engage your reader, Kerfe. Looking out or within is a difficult choice, although I think I’d like to have my seasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Kim. I want my seasons too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the way this poem has a simplicity that contains such philosophical depth
And in particular these lines with the contrasts
both sweetness and sting—
that life gathers
in anticipation of emptying—
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I think we are all looking for simplicity right now. To find what is essential underneath all we’ve accumulated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s the circle again, the well, the source, the filling, emptying and perhaps filling again with something different, which is what, I suppose, the end will be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They will continue, with or without us.
LikeLike
Probably in a more regular rhythm without us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think of these as question to Mankind and to Mother Earth. Would she have things as they could be with our absence, and would we have these while knowing they could only be achieved with our absence?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope theres a balance to be found in between…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hopefully.
btw, this gave me the idea for my own response.
LikeLiked by 1 person
looking forward to it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Change indeed contains sweetness and sting .. and often what we determine is sting leads to sweetness! I loved your idle thoughts and ponders!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Beverly.
LikeLike
I enjoy your questions again–the circles of life–and this hit home, that there’s no joy without sorrow or life without death–
“both sweetness and sting—
that life gathers
in anticipation of emptying”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Merril. I’m trying to keep my perspective open.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such depth of thought in your pondering of the nature of existence. As someone once said, the answer lies in asking the right question.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Olga. I do find that asking questions clarifies thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Breathtaking, the depth, the question(s), the profoundness
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jude. There are always more questions. (K)
LikeLike
So much to ponder in this piece. Aww, I think I may be tired of the seasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mish. I’d rather have them than not. I’m missing them at the moment.
LikeLike
I so love the way you think! This is an amazing piece, Kerfe. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Colleen. I always appreciate your support.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You write such lovely thoughts. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the end is always the same, isn’t it?…. maybe it’s only the overture that matters though
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or perhaps the middles. Thanks Bjorn.
LikeLike
Beautiful images and thoughts. I think we all co-created life because of its very nature. And not in spite of it. Well done. 🌿
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Bela.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautifully posed questions, Kerfe. ❤
LikeLike
You gave us much to ponder over with those questions. Life and death are inevitable with change in between. Well written. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Lisa.
LikeLiked by 1 person