Sense and Sound presents a new collection of more than five hundred poems exploring more than one hundred and fifty subjects, including aging, love, war, religion, and beauty. This inspiring collection of verse addresses the fundamental concerns of the hu

Sense and Sound

PoetryBy DONALD PATRICK REDHEFFER

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Donald Patrick Redheffer
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-0087-3

Contents

Acknowledgments.............................xiiiSense and Sound.............................xvPreface.....................................xviiPrologue....................................xixAdversity...................................1Aging.......................................1Alone.......................................5America.....................................5Argument....................................8Art.........................................10Beauty......................................10Belief......................................11Biography...................................18Books.......................................18Causality...................................19Chance......................................20Character...................................20Civilization................................21Confession..................................21Conformity..................................22Consistency.................................22Convictions.................................23Cosmos......................................23Creative Writing............................25Creativity..................................26Crime and Punishment........................26Criticism...................................27Death.......................................29Definition..................................31Democracy...................................31Destiny.....................................33Doctors.....................................34Doubt.......................................35Education...................................36Elegy.......................................37Endeavor....................................38Ends........................................39Envy........................................40Equality....................................40Eternity....................................41Excess......................................41Experience..................................42Exploitation................................43Facts.......................................43Faith.......................................44Fame........................................47Famous People...............................48Fate........................................54Faults......................................57Fear........................................57Fidelity....................................58Flattery....................................58Followers...................................59Forgiveness.................................60Free Speech.................................61Freedom.....................................62Friendship..................................64Future......................................65Gambling....................................66Genius......................................67Gestures....................................69Giving......................................70Goals.......................................70Good Examples...............................73Government..................................74Greatness...................................76Guns........................................77Habit.......................................78Happiness...................................78Heaven and Hell.............................81Hope........................................82Humanity....................................83Humor.......................................94Hypocrisy...................................94Iconoclasm..................................95Idealism....................................96Identity....................................97If..........................................97Ignorance...................................98Illusions...................................99Injury......................................102Innocence...................................102Judgment....................................103Justice.....................................103Kisses......................................104Knowledge...................................105Laughter....................................107Leisure.....................................108Liberty.....................................109Lies........................................109Life........................................110Literature..................................115Loss........................................115Love........................................116Man and Machine.............................126Manners.....................................127Marriage....................................127Masks.......................................129Mathematics.................................130Mediocrity..................................131Memory......................................131Mercy.......................................133Metaphysics.................................134Miser.......................................134Misfortune..................................135Moderation..................................135Modesty.....................................136Moral Relativity............................137Morality....................................138Mystery.....................................147Nature......................................150Necessity...................................151Novels......................................152Originality.................................153Pacifism....................................154Paradox.....................................155Parting.....................................156Partisan....................................156Patriotism..................................157Pedantry....................................159Philosophy..................................160Plans.......................................161Pleasure....................................161Poetry......................................162Politics....................................167Possessions.................................167Postulates..................................168Power.......................................169Praise......................................169Prayer......................................170Pride.......................................171Principles and Practice.....................171Prisons.....................................172Professions.................................172Proverbs....................................173Punishment..................................173Purpose.....................................173Questions and Answers.......................175Quips.......................................176Quotations..................................176Reality.....................................178Reason......................................179Regret......................................179Religion....................................180Remembrance.................................189Saints and Sinners..........................190Science.....................................190Science and Morality........................192Security....................................192Self........................................193Self-Interest...............................194Self-Knowledge..............................194Self-Reproach...............................194Sentimentality..............................195Sorrow......................................195Stoicism....................................196Success.....................................196Sympathy....................................197Taboos......................................197Talent......................................198Teaching....................................198Temptation..................................200Thought.....................................201Time........................................202Tranquility.................................205Travel......................................206Truth.......................................209War.........................................211War and Peace...............................219Wealth......................................219Wisdom......................................220Wit.........................................221Wonder......................................222Words.......................................222Words and Action............................223Writing.....................................223Epilogue....................................231About the Author............................233

Chapter One

      Adversity


    1. Precious Prey
    The lessons of adversity
    Cannot be washed away;
    Branded for life,
    We become their precious prey.

    2. Only Known to Grief
    Adversity breeds allegiance
    That tranquility never knows,
    For pain is an acid rain,
    Deeper than quid pro quo.

    The sharing of such agony
    Is a bond greater than belief,
    Reaching a place deep within
    Which is only known to grief.


      Aging

    3. Time's Teaching
    Free time is best used with age,
    When passions are subdued;
    May find a way to engage
    A real thought or two.

    Probe deeply into the heart,
    Let time's teaching find a way
    To bring a depth to our art
    That youth cannot convey.

    Some say with passing years
    They doubt age makes us wise;
    But surely life's flood of tears
    Wash away the lies.

    4. Age and Virtue
    Some see balance in growing old—
    Loss of power and growth of soul.
    Somehow goodness makes amends
    For our lack of self-control.

    Virtue not found in youth
    Rarely becomes the stuff of age
    We like to think goodness grows
    In an old and lovely sage.

    No harm in this tender view
    Of those in steep decline.
    Kindness at any age
    Is a touch of the divine.

    5. Ebb Tide
    Those who die in little ways
    Through stages of decline;
    Become a fraction of the one
    Who once was superfine.

    It may seem a blessing
    When death finally comes;
    But life clings to every breath,
    Unwilling to succumb.

    The years can bring a passion
    Never felt before;
    Time touches every moment
    With the need to do more.

    For me, there's only writing
    Songs from deep inside,
    Words that ring with wonder
    Before life's ebb tide.

    6. Lost Youth
    The pursuit of a younger mate
    May be beauty sought and found;
    More likely this chosen state
    Is lost youth rebound.

    7. Perhaps respect conferred in age
    Is justified on moral grounds;
    Sins that once dared to rage
    Have proved to be unsound.

    8. The temperance that comes with age
    Seems the tyranny of time;
    Free of desire that once engaged
    Brings a taste of the sublime.

    9. Golden Years
    The golden years were once seen
    As wisdom's native ground;
    Now the old are often told
    Their thinking is unsound.

    Science and technology
    Move at the speed of light;
    They say age cannot engage
    A world so recondite.

    The insights of maturity
    Are rudely cast aside;
    There is no grace in a race
    When wisdom is decried.

    10. Those who are advanced in years
    And bitterly complain of life
    May find solace through the tears,
    For time will soon end their strife.


      Alone

    11. Aloneness is polarity
    Full of joy and grief.
    Solitude brings ecstasy;
    Loneliness is a thief.


      America

    12. Land of Plenty
    In the land of plenty,
    Food everywhere abounds.
    Few find restraint
    When dinner comes around.

    Restraint is known to all
    For life full and long,
    But pleasure heaped on pleasure
    Can't be so very wrong.

    Values turn to more and more
    Of whatever is desired.
    Life's measure is taken
    By the things we acquire.

    The great power of the nation
    Is seen in endless war.
    Our wild heritage prevails
    Though 'tis God we adore.

    Contradictions are many
    In the land of the free.
    Human nature is found
    In our many deities.

    13. Rejection Deserved
    No draft is needed
    In the red, white, and blue.
    Mercenaries are marching
    When soldiers won't do.

    No disturbing the citizens,
    Untouched by the wars.
    They live peaceful lives
    And God they adore.

    The leaders don't dare
    Force the many to serve.
    For war would fall victim
    To rejection deserved.

    14. No One to Vote For
    No one to vote for
    When it comes to war;
    All candidates agree
    On settling the score.

    15. Birthright?
    Rich soldiers are few and far between
    When no draft demands we fight;
    How many rich Americans
    See war as their birthright?

    16. Land of the Humdrum
    America worships youth;
    Actors and athletes are revered;
    Looking young is the only truth
    To which many will adhere.

    The old quietly set aside
    By ageless moderns in the sun,
    The wisdom of age denied
    In the land of the humdrum.

    17. The Oath
    The courts require you and I
    To tell the truth when on the stand;
    While those who practice law contrive
    To twist the truth to take command.


      Argument

    18. Winning an Argument
    Winning an argument
    Seems right in every way;
    Showing off what we know,
    Thrilled to win the day.

    Teaching while winning
    Seems too good to be true,
    Or is the real goal
    Simply to subdue?

    Thinking over the matter
    We are startled to find
    That losing an argument
    Can improve one's mind.

    19. Losing an Argument
    When losing an argument
    Some say they were burned.
    Such losses are welcome
    For to lose is to learn.

    20. When Belief Is Strong
    All arguments are weak
    When belief is strong.
    No point in dispute
    With the headstrong.

    21. When Anger Is Provoked
    Arguments are won by default
    When anger is provoked.
    Rage reveals who we are,
    And can be a yoke.

    An admission of defeat
    Is seen in the grimace.
    No need to reply
    To anger's ugly face.

    22. Logic's Rules
    Great arguments fail
    While beliefs are shared.
    Machines follow logic's rules;
    People forbear.


      Art

    23. Art transforms our world,
    Marks it with a mind.
    Sees beyond what appears
    With vision yet confined.

    Art is after all
    Humanity revealed.
    No escape from ourselves
    In search of the real.


      Beauty

    24. Beauty Beatifies
    Beauty is more than symmetry
    That merely draws the eye.
    The heart must be captured;
    Beauty beatifies.

    25. Memory of the Race
    Goodness is transcendent beauty,
    For the ravages of time
    Only serve to make it better
    Like the aging of fine wine.

    It is remembered long after
    We have vanished with no trace,
    A most lovely hereafter
    In the memory of the race.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Sense and Soundby DONALD PATRICK REDHEFFER Copyright © 2012 by Donald Patrick Redheffer. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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