Hehehe...
Posted to Poetry
by pottygok on 2003-08-20 20:02:00
>i like the first line of this a lot... the image is >strong. but, if the body is dust, what's left to sway?
That's for you to answer on your own. I realize it's a semi-vague stanza, but it's one of those mystical (hopefully??? :::fingers crossed:::) verses that invites the reader to think about it, and ponder it. Along the lines of a koan, but not really.
>i can see dust blowing (which doesn't fit with your rhyme >scheme) but i can't really picture it swaying. in my mind, >something that sways is hanging from a fixed point, being >carried by wind... and dust just doesn't do that.
And, if you read the stanza, the dust is all gone by this point. Essentially, it's asking people what they give thanks with, and to follow that, and not worry about the dust (their body, their material stuff, etc.).
Think about it this way. If you lose your finger, or your toe, or your leg, do you change inside? Do you all of a sudden flip from, say, a flamming liberal who protests the war to voting for Bush, and insisting that Rev. Phelps had it right all along? Of course not.
So what happens when your entire body is gone??? What's left of you to sway in the wind of the Lord? Give thanks with THAT part of you.
That's a brief explination of the stanza. Hope it helps.
