When we love
I got up in the night to write this down. It was floating around in my head as I was trying to sleep. I knew that if I did not write it down I would not remember it.
It is a poem about that reality of human nature that many of us possess:- that we prefer not to try in case we fail.
I used to be guilty of this. There is a tendency to keep your head down. As if we are so delicate that we cannot take the criticism or that we do not want to appear stupid, useless or a failure. We don’t like to hurt.
I think that if you never try, never put yourself forward, you can never succeed.
I believe it is better to try and fail than to live life without trying at all.
I believe that the hurt of failure and ridicule serves to make the taste of success all the sweeter.
Life is about pushing yourself to the limits and beyond, extending your reach, failing and succeeding, and reaching your potential.
I want to reach the end of my life knowing that I went for it. I don’t want to be full of regrets about what I could have achieved.
There is a horrible voice sitting on our shoulder whispering in our ear that we will fall flat on our face and look stupid. We need to tell our subconscious to fuck off.
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When we love
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When we love
Sometimes we are hurt
But it is better to be hurt
Than to have no feelings at all.
When we create
Sometimes it does not work
But it is better to make rubbish
Than nothing at all.
When we try
Sometimes we fail
But it is better to fail
Than never to have tried.
Opher 31.10.2015
I kept my head down for as long as I can remember, upset in case I failed, yes. So many opportunities I let go by, and regrets yes too many and I try not to let those regrets override me but fail. Opher you remind me so much, your thoughts your words of my favourite poet.
Whose your favourite poet?
Rod Mckuen, the most vilified poet in life and death, that is insulting to those millions of us who loved him. I have purchased many of his collection of poetry books from his Estate, that is where the Robert Burns poem I printed came from, one of his books.
Aaah! I think mine is Allen Ginsberg or maybe Wilfred Owen? Both very different and both groundbreaking.
That is very beautiful, Opher… Very beautiful.
Thanks Cheryl. It was worth getting out of bed in the middle of the night then?
Yes, it was. I need to heed the wisdom in it. I am SUCH an introvert, though it may not seem like it from the safety of my laptop.
I do apologize, friend, for not being able to comment on everything you’re posting these days. I subscribe to an unseemly amount of blogs and am having a hard time keeping up. I do read through yours, but I’ve noticed that sometimes I forget to hit like. Just know I think your writing is awesome!
That’s great Cheryl. It’s always good to hear from you. You give me a boost!
{{{Opher}}}
Thanks – much needed!
Rod Mckuen worked with Allen Ginsberg, yes they were both different. You were in the States I believe, sixties/seventies what a time to be there. It is always said when Kennedy was assassinated the innocence of America was lost. (mind you as we now know Kennedy was not what he was pictured to be). I was there when Watergate took place, little bit of history.
I had some time in the States in 1971, working, hitching and greyhounding, and a year in 1979/80. It was great.
I bet it was what a time to be there, any chance you were a hippie, oh how I would have loved to have been one.
I guess that is what people would have called me but we saw ourselves as something different.
What?
A new bunch of Freaks who were seeing the world differently to our parents and the establishment and believed we were building a better society that coiuld function outside of the one we did not like. We were young and naive. But it was great to be that enthusiastic and optimistic. We grooved on a positive buzz. The world was green.