Sunday, August 08, 2010

Asking



he asked for a mirror
and got a kaleidoscope
he asked for a shield
and got a bow without arrows
he asked for marble stairs
to climb unbesmirched
and got igneous walls
of cold volcanic flows

14 comments:

Raj said...

poor guy. should just stop asking :)

the walking man said...

Clever Jason.

If one starts no or gets into no arguments then a bow without arrows is a shield. Nothing to fear but truth,

A Kaleidoscope is a mirror of fractured images that constantly changes. They are never dull and filled with self centered objects.

So the marble stairs were volcanic glass...2 out of three ain't bad.

The problem I have is he wanted to be un-besmirched but says nothing about what it is he wants to not be fouled by. Maybe it id his requests that are making the climb more difficult than it needs be.

Xeranthemum said...

lol- I agree with Raj.

Although, when I think on it - adversity pushes us to grow. He asks for things to make it easy - he gets things that make him think, grow and become stronger.
No one says he has to like it.
;-)

February Grace said...

For some reason this makes me think of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

“I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.”

We might think that we have to have one set of things, and tools, to find our way through life.

Then things happen we never could have imagined.

The point- to me anyway- is no matter how difficult the climb or how crude the tools- we just have to keep going and building.

Another beautiful piece. I'm so glad to have found this place.

~bru

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Ha, how ironic that you would write that today of all days. Perfect timing Jason. :)

Great writing too-love the metaphor behind it.

awareness said...

Your thought provoking poem has stayed with me all day long.... we gotta make do with what we are given... AND make the best of it.

Interestingly, I wrote a poem which morphed into a prayer the other day and one of the images I had in my head while writing it was of a mirror that couldn't reflect an image. Some days, a kaleidoscope is much better.

Anonymous said...

Raj, that's probably true.

Walking Man, unless a person is entirely self-contained, we all have a buried ask or wish. In a weird way, we often end up defining ourselves by them.

Xeranthemum, very true. But there are some asks where adversity doesn't seem much like a silver lining. Do we hold on? Do we really have a choice?

February, yes, we have to keep going and hope we can learn different questions (and answers).

Oddyoddyo13, I have to stop over at your blog to see what serendipity I tapped into!

Awareness, that really is the quesiton. Do we have to accept what we're given? Do we have to be at the mercy of adversity? Perhaps not. But we can't let the journey grind us down either.

Mona said...

sometimes we may not get what we ask for, but what we may get might prove better than that!

Felicity Grace Terry said...

I love those comparisons. Clever.

Erratic Thoughts said...

mirror<-->kaleidoscope
shield<-->bow without arrows
:D wow!
All entangled huh?
Raj..lol!

Jason, you have voiced my confusion so beautifully and I know I am not the only who wants something but gets something else...

Meghan said...

I love it! I especially like the last part "cold volcanic flows" Brilliant!

Daniel Weise said...

Nicely done. I picuterd a beaten, war weary soldier looking for peace, but doing what was needed and asked of him because it was his duty.

chong y l said...

Jason, thanks for putting another mirror in front of other Self like Desi included.
To share wit' awareness: I have had similar similar exp.
My nightmare scenario is looking at a mirror one day, at midnight, is Idi Am'n staring at me:( Worse maybe Dracula:(:( Worst of all, Throw in Idi, Dra plus de Dark One him or her or itSelf!

Anonymous said...

Mona, that would truly be a blessing!

Petty Witter, thank you!

Erratic Thoughts, acceptance can be a wonderful salve. But sometimes striving to smooth away the negatives just falls short.

Meghan, I liked that phrase too. It really captures a sense of frozen fury. Almost fossilized.

Dan, wow, that image really digs! Duty sometimes stands in the shoes of acceptance and tries to look the same, but it isn't.

Desi, if that reflection is empty, and all you see is the room behind you, then you really know you're in trouble!