Fortune
happens not
for such things become:
a slow fermentation of
laborious days and
unwaivering trust.
Yes!
Such fate is not
on stars,but forged
on every muscle,
every bone
moving in harmony with the fire
burning within your core.
Fortune,
men seek it in their palms---
destined lines and mapped out
futures. But such men are fools!
For what do the constellations know
that your mind, your body
cannot will itself to make?
What do the heavens tell
that your existence cannot obtain?
Nothing!
For you are matter, like the world
shaped into meaning by your own
failing, frailties, and fortitude.
You are clay,
malleable and able to transform.
you are your fortune
and you are your fool.
Why seek among the invisible?
among the abstracts that neither
create nor destroy?
Why fumble into the nothingness
of words uttered by soothsayers
and tellers of fate?
Fortune!
Yes, Fortune my friend
is weaved between your fingers,
yielded by your arms
and owned by your soul.
Let it not be of fate-unattainable.
Fortune happens not
for such things become.
say what you think.
Sorry, you cannot respond to an archived poemReviews
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Iphios, I thought this was awesome.
Fortune favors the bold. Personally, I like the lines in Ecclesiastes that state
"The sun shines on both the wicked and the righteous, time and chance happeneth to them all"
See that, even biblical wisdom says get off your ass and make it happen. And it can happen to everyone who makes it happen by their labors. This is probably my favorite subject. I just hate it when I hear supposed religious people bitching about how the devil is enriching supposedly evil people. No, dumbasses, it's because they got off their ass and went to work for what they wanted, it's not theological rocket science, really...Everthing depends on us, when you really think about it. How many times have you heard of people denied the power of forgiveness in their lives because they wouldn't forgive themselves? Now, if it were all about God he would've touched them with a magic wand and all would be well, no personal input necessary. But that's not how it happens. We and we alone are the fulcrum of our lives in everything we do, it is up to us. We make it happen and to blame some skylofted sentiments for our success or failure is a pathetic cop-out and sad, sad abdication of our own powers of self-determination. I loved this poem, iphios. It's powerful and I loved it!
al
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Hi Al,
I'm glad you liked this poem. It was nagging at the corner of my mind and had to be written. I had to type this down my mobile phone to get it out my system. You capture the heart of this poem to the T. Its good to know that you agree and that it resonates with you. Yes, we have to be our own fulcrums. Fortune doesn't just happen it goes through a process. This was a realization that came, hence i began to write this.
-iphios
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"Fortune happens not / for such things become." I hear that line, and the whole poem, Iphios, as this poet's meditation on self-love in its best sense: confidence in the spiritual belief that we are "malleable clay", and we are the artists at the pottery wheel, free to shape ourselves rather than blame our fortunes on someone else or on events. I even hear an echo of Shakespeare: Our fortunes lie not in our stars but in ourselves. Your poem fills in that insight with flesh and bones...and creative blood. Nice work.
Somewhat different from the poem's thought is my own learning from experience: that sometimes Fortune does things to us that we utterly cannot change and for which we're not in the least to blame, like Job without a concluding redemption or rewarded blessedness. Some people I've known have had terrible things happen to them through no fault of their own, bleak events come at them out of the blue, and for a few of those people, there is nothing they can do to correct their misfortunes, no matter how hard or how patiently they try. BUT, I surely do get the general sense of this poem, Iphios: for most of us, the true fortune-teller is within our own heart. So, as the old Romans used to say: carpe diem! seize the day!
Good poem, thoughtful to the max, and encouraging.
Lad. Rewarded 8
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Hi Lad,
I do think lad that there are times when fortune isn't in our hands, but i wrote this poem in attempt to lift me up. I think there is some will involved in how things have to be. I think at best we must try and make things happen for us. Waiting won't lead us anywhere.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and i'm glad you liked this. I do think this was more of a reversal from the melancholic poems i have recently written.
-iphios -
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Hi, Iphios. Sure, I agree with your thoughts completely. And I did sense in the poem that you were bucking yourself up. Now that you mention it, the poem IS a refreshing departure from your usual - and always skilfully executed in words - melancholy. I've been wondering when you would be able to lift yourself up from the doldrums, and so this one was a refreshing surprise, and pleasure. Are more of such to come? If not, so be it. If so, I'll await to see the brighter side of an insightful poet, in my opinion one of a handful of writers on this site who know what a poem is. Ciao! Lad
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Wow Iphios..This to me is one of the best poems of yours I have ever read
The opening stanza totally got my attention for the rest of the piece... I really like how true for many it is that some let things ferment and end up losing trust in someone, in something or in our world today....
I keep reading and I feel such truth behind each and every word
For what do the constellations know
that your mind, your body
cannot will itself to make?
What do the heavens tell
that your existence cannot obtain?
We as humans do have the power to make it happen for ourselves to obtain what we need to obtain. We are transformable and I agree we are our own fortune and our own fool
What a good word to have had stuck in your head, but then also take and create this Amazing and like I said at the top by far one of your poems that I have loved the most, the wordsnot only speaking to my head but my heart..
Cindy
. Rewarded 8
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Hi Cindy,
Nice to hear from you. I'm glad you loved this poem. I wrote this with an attempt to uplift myself as well.I think sometimes when all is down we have to believe that we can change our own fate, our own fortune. Thanks cindy, your comments is greatly appreciated.
-iphios
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Dun
January 16, 2008