A bit of a scare

Last year or maybe it was even two years ago, my wife introduced me to a sight called thisisbyus. Now defunct it was a sight where amateur writers could post any type of literature that they wrote. It was a wonderful sight where you could share something you created and didn't have to fear persecution. You were always guaranteed to get some responses by people who both loved and hated what you wrote. The best thing about the responses were that none of them were cruel or malicious. If someone didn't like your post they simply said why and offered some suggestions to possibly make it better.

I used the sight for a while to post my own work because as some of you know I have been a poet for over 10 years now writing well over 100 pieces. I am not claiming to be good by any stretch, I always just wrote what was on my mind and used it as a way to express my emotions. The last piece that I wrote was a tribute to one of the greatest (in my mind) authors of all time. Edgar Allan Poe. This man taught me things through his words that showed me a way to release a thousand entrapped emotions that were slowly killing me.

The scare, as my subject suggests is that I posted that poem on thisisbyus and I could not find the original copy anywhere. I thought I had lost the poem when the sight shut done and that it was gone for good. Luckily by chance this morning I found the copy so for your viewing pleasure (and so I can have yet another back up copy for safe keeping) I give you "Poe's World"

The raven cries out to all, “Nevermore”
Echoing through eternity, echoing evermore

Echoing through caverns and through titan wood
On through a dreamland not yet understood

Across the lone waters, the lone and the dead
Where there it falls deaf on a madman’s head

Guilt is the burden that he must carry
The beating of a heart drives this man weary

Where can he escape? Where can he flee?
He’ll follow those dark figures, those strangers he sees

Into the earth, deep beneath his feet
Into the deepest and darkest and ghoulish retreats

As quiet as a mouse down every stair
Into the realm of devilish scares

Greeted by stench and casks on the ground
And still it follows! That damned beating sound!

He bolts and he screams “To be rid of this hell!”
Only to be met by the toll, toll, tolling of bells

But on this night so dark and so dreary
Where so many weep and so many are weary

Love and life balance on a pendulum’s swing
Left to the mercy of an Eidolon King

Still there’s a hope, a shining star in the shade
Where pride is determined, and has yet to fade

A far off shadow dream now uncovered
‘Tis El Dorado! It has been discovered!

Bronze and silver and mountains of gold!
Sapphires and diamonds, more than any man can hold

Yet glee is fleeting and is soon to pass
As gold turns to stone and rubies to glass

Each of these gluttons had greed galore
And all ignored the heed of the words “Nevermore”

Without trying to steal his own words, I tried to create a single story, a world, pieced together by some of his most beloved works. I just hope others can enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

Finally!

Finally after a week and a few minor mishaps I can say that I have one of the major projects done on my list. We put the finishing touches on my wife's craft room last night and the only thing left to do is bring in all her yarns and actual crafts. I went into the room again this morning and it finally sunk in how different that room was and I got to admit that I am quite proud of it.

In other news, my annual winter cold has sunk in and is royally kicking my ass. Sneezing and hacking constantly and sleepless nights...I might chug a bottle of nyquil tonight...that'll do the trick.

I read a post of one my fellow bloggers the other day and it has really gotten me thinking. Fox was saying how she cares about her grades now, in her higher education than she did back in high school. As I read the post I felt like I could really relate to her as I was one of the "troublemakers" or "slackers" in my school. I used to party some and with everything else going on in my life I was out of school more than I was in it. I used to work 50 hours a week in our family's diner plus try and keep my grades up. When my mom went through her first bout with cancer, I was the one that went with her most days to her chemotherapy. My senior year I missed almost 2 months of school with a severe case of mono. My grades weren't terrible...I usually held a Bish average, but they could of been better.

I didn't go to college right out of high school for a couple of reasons. A) My mom was terminally ill and she couldn't have lived by herself or supported herself, so I wound up going to work to help out. B) I didn't know what I wanted to go for. It has only been within the last 6 months that I have finally made up my mind and feel like I have found something that will truly hold my interests.

Like Fox, I really want this time to count. I want to do better than I did in high school. Not only to show other people I can do it, but to show myself. High school was mandatory, this time is for me.