A GATHERING OF GHOSTS
Why is it so easy to create a ghost?
To push a button, trip a switch, speak a word,
point a finger, accuse others, cast a stone,
enact a law, pull a trigger, ignite flames?
The results remain the same.
Why is it so quickly we bury a ghost?
To ignore life’s lessons and deny the past,
stifle scruples, justify guilt, revoke doubt,
shrouding righteousness in a deity’s name?
The results remain the same.
Why is it so hard then to ignore a ghost?
To subdue the conscience and silence the cries,
purge memories, build barriers, deflect faults,
play the game, accepting no personal blame?
The results remain the same.
Why is it so simple to live with the ghosts?
To understand, acknowledge human error,
coming to terms, making amends, righting wrongs,
opening up, reaching out to heal the pain?
The results might keep us sane.
(Because ghosts appear in many forms ... thank you in advance for being honest in your replies.)
2007-10-12 16:03:33 · 7 answers · asked by Doc Watson 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Poetry
Ari, an easy way to create ghosts is by killing people. That is what the first verse is about. But there are many kinds of 'ghosts' that can haunt us, like trying to 'bury' guilt we feel for some wrong we've done or by something we didn't do.
2007-10-12 17:40:31 · update #1
On a personal level I have lived this poem. Ghosts are the things that haunt us, that we just don't want to look at, mostly because as a species we tend to think if we don't see it, if we somehow refuse to accept it, then it doesn't exist. We bury all the injuries we caused & recieved so deep that we may not be conscious of it, but I promise you it will continue to find a way to impact your life, & usually not in a postive manner. Most of us do not want to see our errors because we make them enormous sins in our own eyes, we believe it makes us bad. So ignoring it is safer in our eyes. The end result after a while is we walk around asleep and contiue to repeat the process time & time again. I'm not sure one can know all their ghosts, but I either have or am dealing with those I am aware of. But in the end, it has required that I wake up, otherwise I continue to create ghosts faster than I can recognize them & deal.This is what the last stanza is referring to, wake up, act in love & understanding, respond instead of react, acknowledge your errors immediately when they do happen, & make amends. Amends is much more than saying I'm sorry, it implies a change in behavior. There is much more that can be said but I am tired of typing, a ability that I am not very skilled at. I do what to say that in poetry, unlike prose writing, many things are alluded to, it's design is for the reader to use their imagination & skill to read between the lines & sometimes what is not said is what you are looking for. I love this poem, in concept & writing. It's very well done, & I love the use of metaphor. Please excuse any misspelled words, I can think, but I can not spell, & Yahoo has the worst spell check on the planet! Thanks for sharing your creation.
(((HUG)))
2007-10-13 01:10:08 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
My way of relating to this poem are that yeah it is easy to create a ghost, those times/people/events that haunt us. But I don't agree that those ghosts can so easily be buried? It's kind of difficult to let go if you get what I mean. But in the last part about acknowleding them and living with thosse ghosts, well I guess you would have to be able to apply all that you have written to a certain situation, I think you mean that it is easy for people to put up with a situation that they know is wrong, and that they will just say that it is an error or a judgment or something they cannot fix, and so they 'live' with the ghost. And in doing that we can remain sane, because if we were to see that it was wrong and try to drive the ghosts away we may just lose our minds with the guilt and shame of the ghosts that we create. Ok I am not sounding at all clear, but I hope I am somewhat close. Very thought-provoking tho, I had never quite thought of things like that.
2007-10-12 18:19:54 · answer #2 · answered by cheeky_lil_pixiegirl 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I am not sure whether I deserve the thank you as my answer may not be honest!
Well, am not sure whether it is easy to create a ghost and/or bury a ghost quickly! Yet I know one may not ignore a ghost. In a haunted house. I'd freeze if a ghost dwells there too. Hence I'd hesitate to answer the question: Why is it so simple to live with the ghosts?.
OK. ghost probably is a deployed as a metaphor for something else but whatever the case, "The results might keep us sane."
good luck
2007-10-12 17:34:53 · answer #3 · answered by ari-pup 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Frost is describing some style of rejuvination that he's experiencing from the airborne dirt and dust of snow. this could be bearing on 3 divine/temporal intervention in his life Frost grow to be very involved interior the belief of 'clarifying disease' and here he does that returned, because of the fact the randomness of the snow falling on the speaker besides as sheer randomness of fallen snow could be assessed via a brilliant conscious being and switched over right into a revitalising adventure for the guy who reports it.
2016-12-14 16:13:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It appears that ghosts are memories imprinted on the quantum field by our minds and recoverable at any time by ourselves, or others. The best away to deal with them is to turn poison into medicine.
2007-10-13 04:28:58 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I REALLY,REALLY like this one! I'm not a huge poetry fan, but honestly I can relate. The way I took it (tell me if I'm off) Is to live life we seem to mess up and live w/ all the turmoil that goes with it...Accomplishments are also there and we must accept them or not, things happen all the time and either we take it in ,or breathe it out! Hope I understood it!! =)
2007-10-12 16:27:50 · answer #6 · answered by MomX's2 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Think harder.
I think this poem is scratching the surface of saying something very precise and very necessary.
But it currently does not. So...
Think harder.
2007-10-12 18:29:38 · answer #7 · answered by Nathan D 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋