Questions,
always questions
Will I?
Can I?
What if?
Thick as grandma’s gravy
Murky as dog-day waters
It hangs in the air
like a dense fog that fails to lift
Doubts,
always doubts
I won’t
I can’t
If will happen
Never positive in thought
Believing in armageddon
It drags its victims along
through a pool of coagulated sludge
Fear,
always fear
I submit
I cringe
A chill rises
Tomorrow is at the forefront
Yesterday still concerns
It lurks in an inky shadow
Ready to lunge at sleep’s throat
Mary J Melange 
OK, let’s start with the fact that I really like “Thick as grandma’s gravy,” and I think you did a wonderful job on this poem. On the other hand:
Worry is such a unrelenting foe. It can drag people down. I hope you can find a way to focus away from worry.
I hope you have a very good week, Mary!
Thankfully, I’m not in a worry state of mind at this time, Dan. The teacher at poetry class liked the gravy analogy as well, so that’s a keeper.
I’m much better now at not worrying than I have been in the past, but the words reflect some of the dark times of worry I’ve gone through…like with the divorce. I have to always ask myself if worry will change anything (there’s scripture about that) and the answer is always no.
I wrote about how my grandmother taught me that. Poetry is always interesting, in that the reader blends there own experience into the words. This is very nice work.
Powerful, yet beautiful poem, Mary. I love it and feel the fear and passion flowing through the words. Great poem.
But then …. it’s as I’ve come to expect from you. You have a beautiful way with words.
~ Cobs. xxx
Thank you so much, Cobs! I’m glad you felt the meaning of the words, that it told a story. Sending squidges and hugs your way!
That last line is SO powerful. I enjoyed a lot of the imagery and metaphor, but as a worrier, that last line knows where I live (and try to sleep.) Very well done.
Thank you, Joey. The last line is a rewrite on the advice of the poetry teacher. Glad I listened to him!
Lovely poem.
Thank you!
The grandma gravy line is brilliant. Fear is an invisible enemy. When I lost my mother, fear was the second emotion that gripped me after sorrow. My life was so dependent on my mother that I started fearing how life will move ahead. I faced so many situations where I acted to be strong but in reality, my feet were trembling within my trousers. I also had this line written in my closet that said – To Chase the Fear, Face the Fear. I would read that every single day. I still fear a lot of things today, but in the last 23 years I have knocked down many fears.
Thank you, Sharukh. Knocking down your fears means you have courage in those situations. It’s what took me through a terrible week in my life and allowed me to get through it and move forward. I hope we can both put aside fears and worry and enjoy the many wonderful things around us.
I echo Joey’s comment – especially since I’m starting this day on 3 hours of broken sleep. Worry and I have been lifelong companions. You nailed it, Mary!
I hope you have time to take a nap today…no worries. Or maybe have an adult refreshment later…really no worries. 😉 Keep focusing on the good stuff ahead, Joanne!
I had a nap. It was wonderful 🙂
OMG, yes, Mary. So very yes. “Lunge at sleep’s throat” is so right. You think you’re drifting off, and then POP the eyelids snap open and the heart starts thumping and the stomach turns sick and the brain churns…. Hard work to remember to calm everybody down like a pack of puppies in a lightning storm instead of howling along with them. Nailed it, girl.
Marian, thank you so much for your positive and encouraging comments. I love the analogy of howling puppies in a lightning storm. So true!
I worry, I what if, I think about yesterday and I wonder what will happen tomorrow and no matter how I try to live in the present, I still worry about loads and loads of things. If only I could stop….if only I could live now, If only I could let tomorrow take care of itself and let yesterday be bygones. But I’m human and I WORRY, DARN!
It’s in our human nature, Liz. I think because we have no control over the things we worry about. I always feel silly after I worry myself into nausea when the issue fixed itself or really wasn’t that huge. If only we could learn to let many of our worries roll off our back!
Worry. My old hand-wringing companion. I try to comfort her and tell her stories about all the times we worried for nothing. But them my friend showed me her armageddon bucket with a toilet seat she bought on line with supplies for five people for x number of days, and worry says, “Yes! You need to order one of those!” I have not ordered it yet. May peace prevail most days for all of us.
I have no room for an Armageddon bucket, but I don’t think that’s worth worrying about. Save your money, JoAnna. Buy yourself a bucket of ice cream instead! 😀
Ooooh! That does sound better! 🙂