deepundergroundpoetry.com
Bended Knee
I consider on bended knee
the task how to be worthy
true to the highest goals
put forth by best intents
with integrity as the mark
faithfulness to contracts
reputation prominent
truthfulness targeted
no accuser may confront
a person with honor so defined
this is the theory put to test
yet I wonder where it may rest
when society is split in half
and then again by detail's weight
opinions differ as groups debate
infinium from mobs to self
what is felt as honor is besmirched
by the holiest and most devout
in iron beds all must rest
Procrustes would be made so proud
when the self is stretched to fit
or lopped off to meet the mold
piety will have its say
sanctity all must convey
then there is the greatest sin
that principles are the property
of only those within a group
with all others held in disgrace
be this measured by gender's gauge
religion made to show the way
social class demarcating
or color of skin the measuring stick
be error sourced from standards
or put to groups by prejudice
humanity is too quick to state
which is them and which is they
this is enough to cast to doubt
what it means to be worthy
when paradox is the rule
with equal measure of Catch-22
do not lose hope gentle reader
vaunted beliefs still have a merit
when integrity is held to breast
don't be concerned by detractors
some will turn their eyes away
spit to show their full dismay
just know that the fall occurs
in these critics so self assured
my knee is bent by humility
my knowledge that I can only strive
to be my best, to hold the line
to keep my soul when I’m tried
by a world that holds all others
to higher measures than those leveled
against themselves, the lost ones
I bend my knee and cry for them.
© 2017, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170210.
A friend posted an excerpt from a 1911 book about the virtues to strive in traditional manhood. Included in these were truth, faithfulness, reputation, and steadfastness. My friend was digging the message stated in the language of the time. I brought the message to the present, considering how the same message is presented by some societal groups. Concerns came to mind. Do men have the corner on integrity? Also, it is very difficult to always be in perfect integrity with all of society when you're a member of alternative gender identity / sexual preference / romantic relationship groups. In that space a person can have perfect integrity unto themselves and still an abomination to society as a whole. Ah…. the poem “Bended Knee” follows these thoughts.
the task how to be worthy
true to the highest goals
put forth by best intents
with integrity as the mark
faithfulness to contracts
reputation prominent
truthfulness targeted
no accuser may confront
a person with honor so defined
this is the theory put to test
yet I wonder where it may rest
when society is split in half
and then again by detail's weight
opinions differ as groups debate
infinium from mobs to self
what is felt as honor is besmirched
by the holiest and most devout
in iron beds all must rest
Procrustes would be made so proud
when the self is stretched to fit
or lopped off to meet the mold
piety will have its say
sanctity all must convey
then there is the greatest sin
that principles are the property
of only those within a group
with all others held in disgrace
be this measured by gender's gauge
religion made to show the way
social class demarcating
or color of skin the measuring stick
be error sourced from standards
or put to groups by prejudice
humanity is too quick to state
which is them and which is they
this is enough to cast to doubt
what it means to be worthy
when paradox is the rule
with equal measure of Catch-22
do not lose hope gentle reader
vaunted beliefs still have a merit
when integrity is held to breast
don't be concerned by detractors
some will turn their eyes away
spit to show their full dismay
just know that the fall occurs
in these critics so self assured
my knee is bent by humility
my knowledge that I can only strive
to be my best, to hold the line
to keep my soul when I’m tried
by a world that holds all others
to higher measures than those leveled
against themselves, the lost ones
I bend my knee and cry for them.
© 2017, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170210.
A friend posted an excerpt from a 1911 book about the virtues to strive in traditional manhood. Included in these were truth, faithfulness, reputation, and steadfastness. My friend was digging the message stated in the language of the time. I brought the message to the present, considering how the same message is presented by some societal groups. Concerns came to mind. Do men have the corner on integrity? Also, it is very difficult to always be in perfect integrity with all of society when you're a member of alternative gender identity / sexual preference / romantic relationship groups. In that space a person can have perfect integrity unto themselves and still an abomination to society as a whole. Ah…. the poem “Bended Knee” follows these thoughts.
Published 11th Feb 2017
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11th Feb 2017 11:57pm
i chose to read this based on your username believe it or not.
Applause is due as you've been able to translate the century it took us to stand still
And walk concentricly ... i am loving this... Can't stop reading the last stanza.
Yessss
Applause is due as you've been able to translate the century it took us to stand still
And walk concentricly ... i am loving this... Can't stop reading the last stanza.
Yessss
I wanted to use the name "Accidental Poet" when I started blogging on Tumblr. That name was already used, so I picked another play on the words, and hence I became PoetryAccident (http://poetryaccident.tumblr.com/).
The poem was a very visceral reaction to the quoted passage from the 1911 document. I recognized that the sentiments still resound today, and as a member of an alternative group I could never truly attain the prescribed status in the eyes of "the world". I like your observation of "walk concentricly". Kudos.
The full text I reacted to follows...
"If the youth should start out with the fixed determination that every statement he makes shall be the exact truth; that every promise he makes shall be redeemed to the letter; that every appointment shall be kept with the strictest faithfulness and with full regard for other men’s time; if he should hold his reputation as a priceless treasure, feel that the eyes of the world are upon him that he must not deviate a hair’s breadth from the truth and right; if he should take such a stand at the outset, he would . . .come to have almost unlimited credit and the confidence of everybody who knows him.
What are palaces and equipages; what though a man could cover a continent with his title-deeds, or an ocean with his commerce; compared with conscious rectitude, with a face that never turns pale at the accuser’s voice, with a bosom that never throbs with fear of exposure, with a heart that might be turned inside out and disclose no stain of dishonor? To have done no man a wrong; to have put your signature to no paper to which the purest angel in heaven might not have been an attesting witness; to walk and live, unseduced, within arm’s length of what is not your own, with nothing between your desire and its gratification but the invisible law of rectitude;—this is to be a man."
The poem was a very visceral reaction to the quoted passage from the 1911 document. I recognized that the sentiments still resound today, and as a member of an alternative group I could never truly attain the prescribed status in the eyes of "the world". I like your observation of "walk concentricly". Kudos.
The full text I reacted to follows...
"If the youth should start out with the fixed determination that every statement he makes shall be the exact truth; that every promise he makes shall be redeemed to the letter; that every appointment shall be kept with the strictest faithfulness and with full regard for other men’s time; if he should hold his reputation as a priceless treasure, feel that the eyes of the world are upon him that he must not deviate a hair’s breadth from the truth and right; if he should take such a stand at the outset, he would . . .come to have almost unlimited credit and the confidence of everybody who knows him.
What are palaces and equipages; what though a man could cover a continent with his title-deeds, or an ocean with his commerce; compared with conscious rectitude, with a face that never turns pale at the accuser’s voice, with a bosom that never throbs with fear of exposure, with a heart that might be turned inside out and disclose no stain of dishonor? To have done no man a wrong; to have put your signature to no paper to which the purest angel in heaven might not have been an attesting witness; to walk and live, unseduced, within arm’s length of what is not your own, with nothing between your desire and its gratification but the invisible law of rectitude;—this is to be a man."
16th Feb 2017 11:54am
18th Feb 2017 2:55pm
