Monday, August 16, 2010

The Slow Dance of Progress



It sways and reaches out like branches of a tree.
Ablaze with growth with flames that lap up all they see.

It's fervor kindles and molds forth like a lover's yearning embrace.
Creating something more that what once took it's place.

But in the gradual process of moving forward, pipes get rusty and foundations sway.
What we will not salvage, we choose to tear down and replace.

Gravel roads become cement byways.  There are parking lots where once was a grassy knoll.
Man's grand architecture is a hustle that steps on many toes.

It is two steps forward and then 3 steps back to the beat of fleeting time.
An awkward dance of stumbling that only man could design.

The true struggle of progression is where all of nature pays the ultimate cost.
For in all that man strives to gain, there is always something lost.


27 comments:

  1. The second Law of Thermodynamics paraphrased by me...everything slows down, rusts, rots, cools off and otherwise breaks down. It's inevitable. We can update anything, but eventually it will slow down, rust, rot...etc.

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  2. oh so hauntingly true...there is always a price...and what are we left with but rust...nice mag!

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  3. Thank you ~T~ and Steviewren for stopping by and reading it...:-)

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  4. Hi Brian thank you for your kind comments. :-)

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  5. Poignant ... and true (sadly.)

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  6. Powerful piece - timely wisdom - I love the way you tied this.

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  7. Very true, nothing in the life is free, everything is cause and effect. A wise, poignant and beautiful write.

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  8. There is gain, loss, and...pain...so true.

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  9. a lovely poem and so very true, if only we could learn to maintain a balance. :)

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  10. very true, and so well written! great magging!

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  11. Beautiful. I love it!

    "The true struggle of progression is where all of nature pays the ultimate cost.
    For in all that man strives to gain, there is always something lost."

    I think so often we over look the things we've lost in the midst of progression.

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  12. Oh woman, how do you do it?
    A shame what we humans do to our planet...

    In the end, the cost a rusty pipe...

    Loved it ;)

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  13. Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments, they have made my day! :-)

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  14. so very true- once you change the land it's damn hard if not impossible to put it back the way it was....nicely done!

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  15. Hi Kathew, you are so very right about that, thank you for stopping by and reading my prompt. :-)

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  16. Carrie, your poem gives me food for thought. My favorite lines are:

    "But in the gradual process of moving forward, pipes get rusty and foundations sway.
    What we will not salvage, we choose to tear down and replace."

    So true, and so often we replace structures that should be salvaged....unlike in some parts of the world where they have more a sense of preserving old structures...in the name of history.

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  17. Mary you really captured the heart of my message in your comment...and I agree completely...thank you for stopping by and reading it...i really have enjoyed reading your blog. :-)

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  18. Carrie, and thank YOU for reading my blog as well...and for your comments on my most recent poem I really DO enjoy reading your blog too.

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  19. Much to keep the reader thinking =). Excellent post, and wonderfully written magpie!

    -Weasel

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  20. Isn't that the truth! A little less "progress" would be okay with me, Carrie.

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  21. Mary you have made my morning...thank YOU! :-)

    Hi Weasel, you always are so encouraging...thank you. :-)

    Hi Shay, i agree with you...sometimes it seems progress, is not really progress at all, but digression.

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  22. Lyrics for a Joan Mitchell song! But that's life, so what are you doing today that is about life, my friend Carrie Burtt! :-)

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  23. Hi Stafford you snuck up on my when I wasn't looking....:-)
    I will have to think on that...and I will sing it to you on you blog one day when I comment back...:-) la la la la la la la I can't sing:-)

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  24. Oh, how lovely. Just lovely. I had to read it twice, so delicious were your words. And true. Nice magpie!

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  25. Oh how I love that last stanza. That said it all. So very, very true. Beautiful.

    Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your lovely words on my blog....

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"Our best thoughts come from others." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson