Poem of the Month - March 2010

This month I want to present a poem that merges my two passions - careers and writing. I was motivated to write a poem about change, as I have been recently taking myself through a self-directed change and found myself wondering why change is so hard even when we are driving it. People who are about to be married usually go through a period of wondering if this is the right thing, of recalling the single life nostalgically - many people even change their minds several times, calling off the engagement and then going through the whole 'Will you marry me' thing again for the second or even third time.

Change is difficult and draining: there is always a mourning period during which we wonder why  we  want to leave our old, known way of  life behind,  then there are the doubts - is  this the right path to follow, and confusion - well if I am making a change, then why not consider a range of  other possible options.

This poem was written in about five minutes, so I doubt it is my best, but it is not up to me  to judge.

On change and uncertainty


Giving up the known is easy
In practice.
You simply say, I’ve had enough,
Close the door and go on your way.

But it isn’t really, is it?
We fumble  and procrastinate
We make excuses
Avoid the inevitable.

We question ourselves and our motives
We talk ourselves out of
Whatever it is we want to do
And we stop listening to the voice of change.

Crisis point, the time of not able to go back,
Afraid to go on
We take ourselves so seriously
And lose ourselves.

If change is forced on us, or even if not,
It will creep up, stealthily, unnoticeably -
The light is going out
In our old familiar room

We make excuses:
'It’s nice in the dark'
Or, 'It's not really dark'
Or, 'It is only a little bit dark'.

But darkness is complete.
We can live in it, or we can leave the room
And move to a nicer, brighter one
With no old furniture to bump into.

After we get used to this room and the view
We can work out what we want to go and get
From the old room, light a candle and go back there
And realise that, all too soon, it is no longer familiar.

Whatever is important to our new life
 - people, things, beliefs,
Can be gathered up and polished,
made meaningful in new ways.

As for the rest,
Go back,
Shut the door,
Turn the lock,
And walk away.