A Wish

I'd like to write - like grown-up poets do:
with similes that span the universe,
that sparkle, crackle, dazzle, woo the mind;
and touch the heart with tender, swoony verse...

I'd like to write - like grown-up poets do:
in literature that's all the better for
those soaring, parabolic parables
and paradigms, and rhymes, and metaphor...

I'd like to write - like no-one else has done:
forget the rules and precedents; let fly
to heights undreamt of yet, new mindscape won..

And yet, perhaps, the world's served better by

small lamps of words amidst the cold night winds
of chance and change; cupped in a poet's hands.

poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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