The Prisms of Life



The prisms of Life.
Starting from birth until death.
Are our projections.
Superimposed on all things.
The deeds of our existence.

The prisms of Life.
Artificial images.
Are all reflections.
Of original birthrights.
Captured by our archetypes.

The prisms of Life.
Constructed for directions.
Are scaffolds we make.
Some are consciously designed.
Others unconsciously borne.

The prisms of Life.
So buried — and now risen.
From the Underworld.
Surface as the reflections.
Of the workings of our soul.

The prisms of Life.
Once started, must continue.
Cannot be halted.
But can still be corrected.
By the healing of our soul.

The prisms of Life.
Are singularly given.
Like all DNA imprints.
Unique to each Living Being.
As filters of the Psyche.

The prisms of Life.
“Positive “ or “Negative.”
Must all be valued.
Constructed as our lifelines.
Offerings for completion.

About this poem

This Japanese-style Tanka poem, amplified into a seven-stanza reflective metacognitive poem, invites each of us to take an introspective examination of ourselves, if even for a moment, and to observe how all of us, during the span of our lives, from the womb to the tomb, consciously or unconsciously, through laughter and through tears, through “good” times and “bad” times, through successes and failures, through comedy and tragedies; all of us, young and old, rich and poor, meek and mighty , all of us employ and deploy as resources during the course of our lifetime, multiple prisms of our own construction and design during our earthly pilgrimage from birth until death, glorifying or even at times belittling ourselves while being in the spotlight on that stage that we call “Life.  

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Written on April 02, 2022

Submitted by karlcfolkes on April 02, 2022

Modified on March 22, 2023

54 sec read
742

Quick analysis:

Scheme Axbxx Axbxx Abxxx Acxbd Axeed Acxxx Axxxc
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 882
Words 180
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Karl Constantine FOLKES

Retired educator of Jamaican ancestry with a lifelong interest in composing poetry dealing particularly with the metaphysics of self-reflection; completed a dissertation in Children’s Literature in 1991 at New York University entitled: An Analysis of Wilhelm Grimm’s ‘Liebe Mili’ (translated into English as “Dear Mili”), Employing Von Franzian Methodological Processes of Analytical Psychology. The subject of the dissertation concerned the process of Individuation. more…

All Karl Constantine FOLKES poems | Karl Constantine FOLKES Books

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    "The Prisms of Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/123619/the-prisms-of-life>.

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