Monday, October 29, 2007

Heartbeat


Rise
Fall
Crest
Trough
Inhale
Exhale

Beep.

Blips on a screen.
The thin green line
rises,
wavers,
reaches a peak,
turns, and
plummets,
only to rise again...

Sometimes
steadily,
surely,
clean curves up and down.
Other times
unsure,
suddenly,
heavily,
shuddering.

But yet...
the rise and fall
are
constant.

Beep.

The line will always fluctuate.
The ups
always fall,
the downs
always rise.

A flat line means
failure...

And so,
we rise.

Beep.

Sometimes haltingly,
sometimes sure of ourselves,
but then,
when all seems good,
pleasant,
comfortable...

Beep.

The blip
turns downward,
descends,
darkens our eyes,
makes us feel
scared,
alone,
a failure...

But in reality
failure
is only found
in a flatline.

The downs
are a component
of life.
The valley,
the trough,
the exhale,
are as essential to life
as the vast mountain peaks,
the foam-tipped wave caps,
the cleansing, nourishing breaths
of lifegiving air...

We fall and rise.
Life is dark, then light.

We must prepare
for falls,
cushion ourselves,
steady ourselves,
reach out for support.
But we must also
remember--
The line will
always
peak.

Beep.

The dark never lingers
longer than its wavelength,
and...

Beep.

If we know the secrets
of how to climb
out of the troughs

Beep.

and ride the crests
as long as we can hold on to them,
then
we have

Beep.

discovered
the
secret

Beep.

of
Growth...



16 comments:

David_on_the_Lake said...

wow
wow
great analogy and imagery..
Oh How true..
The heart keeps us alive...and its one big rollercoaster...
yerida l'tzorech aliya...

kinda freaky that I also just posted a post about the heart..

pobody's nerfect. said...

i'm new to your blog (though i guess we all technically are) and ... wow.

you were gifted with an incredible talent with words.

this mashal is a favorite of my former high school principal's. mine, too, i guess.

thank you.

the dreamer said...

That was unreal.
I really like your writing style.

Love the beeps interwined with the words.

And yeah, david, i was about to say the same.

halfshared said...

This was fantastic!!! Corner starts off with a bang.......keep going. Awesome!

Scraps said...

That. Was. Brilliant.

It's so true, isn't it? There are peaks and falls, but the only failure is in a flatline. We all have peaks, and they're fantastic and wonderful, though sometimes they come easier than others. Sometimes your heart struggles and wavers and it's up-down-up-down-up. But even when you're falling, as long as you're resolved not to flatline, you're not a failure. You fight your way back up again.

corner point said...

I had originally thought of the idea for this poem when I was in Seminary, but the poem I wrote then somehow got misplaced. I'm glad it did, though, because I like how this one came out so so much better...It's amazing what a few years of maturity, struggles, and life experience can do...

David--
That is weird...I didn't know about yours first, tho. Gotta go check it out now...
And thanks!

Pobody--
Thank you, dear...
And just to make things more uncanny, this is one of my favorite meshalim, too... (We've gotta find some differences sometime :-)...)

Dreamer--
Thanks! I'm glad you appreciated the effect I intended to weave there.

Halfshared--
Thank you for the compliments and support! Support is always welcome :-)

Scraps--
Exactly.
It's something I need to remember...and writing about it helps in a way...

Anonymous said...

Dadadum (drum roll). We have here in inspiring writer who was considering not sharing herself with us...how dare she ;)
Seriously an ace post...totally love it!

the apple said...

I liked this very much. I can almost hear your voice speaking this with an EKG machine quietly in the background!

corner point said...

Okay everyone...this is becoming not so funny because I think I'm developing an obsession...
I can't even remember how many times I checked this here blog just today...Okay. I'll be fine.
Eventually.
:-)

Smile--
I know, the nerve of me... :-)
A danke...

Apple--
My voiee? I don't have a poem-recitation-type voice at all; they only let me act on stage because of my body language and facial expressions :-)
But okay. I hear what you mean...
And thanks.

Ezzie said...

:) Brilliant.

corner point said...

Ezzie--
Grazie. Much appreciated. And welcome to my corner.

the apple said...

Hehe. I remember checking my blog obsessively (and then sitemeter when I finally installed it). It wore off after a while.

Bas~Melech said...

Nice analogy.

The obsession only gets worse... You need to find the tools that will give you the updates when they come so that you don't need to keep checking all the time... though even that isn't completely effective all the time. :-P

corner point said...

Bas--
That's a good idea. How do I find those tools? Have any to show me?
Oh, and also, feel free to clue me in on anything more you think I should know about the blogging world. I'm semi-new here, and everything I know is only what I've picked up from observation...I'm scared that one day I'll infringe on an unspoken rule or law of the blogging world simply because I'm uneducated...

the apple said...

Well, firstly you can get new comments sent to your inbox so that you know when someone has commented.

Secondly, install a sitemeter! You can get that at www.sitemeter.com. That will tell you every single view/visit of your blog, how people got there, where they're located . . . it's slightly Big-Brotherish but useful.

little sheep said...

you. are. making. me. cry. but don't think real cry. inside.

(we now see what a bored soul i really am...what am i doing way back here?)