Tested!
Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)
Impatiently.
I detested being tested.
With a delaying each step forward made.
To fall back on my aspirations.
My mind would and could not await,
When much younger it takes...
Learning lessons first,
Makes a difference to a thirst...
Craving to quench.
Without appreciating developing,
A consciousness to use common sense...
Has its setbacks to dreams deferred.
I grew to be tested.
Through one experience after another.
Incapable to listen or pay attention,
To what was being taught.
With then stubborn kept thoughts,
I already knew what I needed to know.
Done to pass,
Each and every task placed upon my path.
It seemed as if,
Whenever I stood tall...
I would fall again to begin to crawl.
From one disappointment to another.
I could not or would not comprehend.
Nor understand messages to me sent.
Too young then I had been.
To connect the dots to a picture painted.
Rushing through my mind.
Prepared already there,
Completely envisioned.
Then I began to realize,
I had not been that wise at all.
Although I believed my smart aspirations...
Would eliminate,
Each challenge and obstacle to face.
With unused tools of a limited fool.
This to confess I had to admit to myself.
I became unafraid to begin to ask questions.
I began to pass test after test.
I became more appreciative,
Of each step of progress I start to make.
Feeling grateful I had begun to walk taller.
Without falling to crawl as often.
And those dots to that picture painted,
Slowly with clarity cleared my vision.
I was passing more tasks on a path taken.
Done through experiencing,
My own ignorance to deny.
And here today am I feeling qualified,
To know what it takes to be thought a fool.
Who has recovered from stupidity.
But...
Not an old aging fool to prove to anyone,
I know what I don't.
Without tests to first pass them.
And asking the right questions.
With a doing to have it disbelieved,
Once a fool thought to be one.
Can not become wise with wisdom obtained.
'How can you do what you do.
To make it look effortless and easy?'
'You should see my knees.'
'Huh?'
'Pride to acquire it,
Has taken me a long time...
To develop it and earn.'
'I don't understand.'
'I didn't either.
It took me awhile to learn and appreciate,
The benefits of crawling.
And the advantage this is,
When one becomes aware of being a fool!'
'I don't get it!'
'Some do some don't some will some won't.
But know this to notice,
How you do it done to get up off your knees.
To walk with a swagger look effortless!'
'That's...
Puzzling!'
'A picture painted in one's head to envision,
Takes time to find the appropriated pieces...
To make sense of the meaning of it.
I have learned by being tested,
That messages sent to go ignored.
Can be a puzzling way of life to live.
Leaving one piece to chase after another.
Hoping for a quick result that satisfies.
A process to progress,
Is not an easy task.'
'How do you know that?
Everyone doesn't reach a goal the same way.'
'Once again...
Do you want to see my knees?'
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Written on November 09, 2022
Submitted by lpahtillah on November 09, 2022
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 3:16 min read
- 5 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXCDXEEXFXX BGHXXXXX XIIGXXXBXXX JICDXKX CXXXGHBHHFXXKA XHLXCBHX XA M NXX X GDFXK N LOMO XF HXNBXXGJXX XX XM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,978 |
Words | 646 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 11, 7, 14, 8, 2, 1, 3, 1, 5, 1, 4, 2, 10, 2, 2 |
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"Tested!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/144214/tested!>.
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