Open that bottle right now
If it makes tomorrow shorter
Bring on ten more
So Monday can be but a dream
Hold on now
Let’s not despair
Tomorrow’s the dole
That’ll buy the beer
Don’t crash out just yet
There’s a wee drop left
And that’ll be stale by morning light
What’ll I do
When there’s no more beer
Yet still tomorrow
To face again?
Terrible thought that
No deadening effect
To lower the pain
Cease sore mind
What brings this on?
Is it that maddening light?
The moment of dismal truth
Coming up between the beers?
Fear not for it’s time to resume
Get back to serious business
And no interfering thought
Gulp again and the light will blur
Take my thought to another part
And leave stale reality truly behind
FRANZ KAFKA said …
“Art flies around truth but with the definite intention of not getting caught.
Its capacity lies in finding in the dark void a place
where the beam of light can be intensely caught.”
HAIG BARCLAY says …
“This light is all around, penetrating, disturbing and refusing to leave me alone.
However I seek to dull my thoughts I will need to answer to the light of day.”
Personal take
A poem which seems somewhat incomplete, just as is the mood it tries to convey.
Guess we all need to turn off and even turn away from what’s going on in our daily lives and in our constant seeking for something better. The beer often does the trick and takes one to another part where the thoughts are brighter even if the thought process can be dimmed.
The lines hint at the difficulty of facing up to what is to come and taking the easy way out in terms of comfort and nulling of any more creative thought or process.
It seems to be a constant predicament of man, shorn of deep belief and simply looking for better material life but it is also the plight of the desperate who have little consolation and live only in despair. An awakening and seeing the light seems very far off – it is all quite infuriating.
The poem makes heavy use of the imperative, it shouting out as if to numb the pain and avoid any other question being asked, even if the essential questions do seep through – perhaps unknowingly.