‘The Art of Being Human’
a d’Verse poetics prompt
EPIGRAPH:
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
–William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), ‘Hamlet’
This being human is poetry ~ No. This being, human, is defined, defied ~ by lines imaginary; knowing he doesn't know his worth ~ knowing leaves him weary; This, being human, is, primarily ~ his greatest aspiration; aspiring, perhaps, to believe he is ~ some greater being's creation; This, being, Human, is merely what ~ has been bestowed upon you; You're born, you die, and in between ~ being human's what we all do
The prompt
The above poem is my take on d’Verse’s ‘The Art of Being Human’ prompt.
The challenge is to write a metaphor poem that starts with the words ‘This being human is’, which comes to us from Rumi’s poem ‘The Guest House’, which you may read below.
In truth, my poem is not a metaphor, but this is what came to me. At first, I was thinking of writing something like ‘being human is a poem’ and then exploring the similarities between the two, but that’s simply not where my heart and mind wanted to go this morning.
‘The guest house’ by Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
