A Vote For the Gentle Light
Posted: November 7, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: art, blogging, Charles Bukowski, compassion, Depression, family, freshly pressed, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, Light, love, lululemon, meditation, mental health, Mood, motivation, musings, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, Photography, Poem, Poetry, Prose, relationships, strength, whole foods, writing, yoga 8 Comments…
a vote for the gentle light
burned senseless by other people’s constant
depression,
I pull the curtains apart,
aching for the gentle light.
it’s there, it’s there
somewhere,
I’m sure.
oh, the faces of depression, expressions
pulled down into the gluey dark.
the bitter small sour mouths,
the self-pity, the self-justification is
too much, all too much.
the faces in shadow,
deep creases of gloom.
there’s no courage there, just the desire to
possess something––admiration, fame, lovers,
money, any damn thing
so long as it comes easy.
so long as they don’t have to do
what’s necessary.
and when they don’t succeed they
become embittered,
ugly,
they imagine that they have
been slighted, cheated,
demeaned.
then they concentrate upon their
unhappiness, their last
refuge.
and they’re good at that,
they are very good at that.
they have so much unhappiness
they insist upon your sharing it
too.
they bathe and splash in their
unhappiness,
they splash it upon you.
it’s all they have.
it’s all they want.
it’s all they can be.
you must refuse to join them.
you must remain yourself.
you must open the curtains
or the blinds
or the windows
to the gentle light.
to joy.
it’s there in life
and even in death
it can be
there.
CultFit 
For a guy who had such a troubled life, he sure wrote beautiful poetry. Perhaps because of his troubled life huh?
I like to use the word dense to describe a majority of his work. He definitely “kept it real” and told the absolute truth, no matter how dark and dirty it may have been. Thank you so much for sharing, take care this evening!
Reblogged this on Empower and Balance and commented:
Love this man’s poetry!
That was powerful! Thank you.
Charles Bukowski didn’t pull many punches or hold back from telling the absolute truth, the depth of this poem is what I find the most enthralling. Reading his powerful words and nodding my head at first, after reading a few more times – his words hit hard.
Absolutely
Aching for the gentle light… How perfectly said ~
The power that can be created by using seemingly simple words is inspiring …