Jamming in The Present Whilst Living in The Past

A Poem by Pete

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. - Thoreau

The Life of a Song: 'Living in the Past'

head in the clouds

toes in the sand

heart in heaven's hills

hopes on the moon

eyes with the stars

voice with the band

proclaiming and taking a stand

a kicking child along with a solitary man

all that anyone could ever dream to be

bending like a branch in a storm 'pon a deeply rooted tree

crooning lips of the flutist

fingers nimble yet entwined as one

soul swimming and rats drowning in the depths of the sea

always in the proper key

declaring you and defining me

tomorrow is always too soon

all this and a plethora more, as the clouds swoon

sweeping away dirt with an old broom

rolling the stone away from the tomb

what's more,

without ever leaving the womb

© 2025 Pete

Author's Note

“Critical acumen is exerted in vain to uncover the past; the past cannot be presented; we cannot know what we are not. But one veil hangs over past, present, and future, and it is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but what is. Where a battle has been fought, you will find nothing but the bones of men and beasts; where a battle is being fought, there are hearts beating. We will sit on a mound and muse, and not try to make these skeletons stand on their legs again. Does Nature remember, think you, that they were men, or not rather that they are bones?” - Thoreau

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Reviews

Buddhistboy73

Wow..!

This is a great poem...it mixes up past and present and is a fine way to express the picture above the words...

It's like a musical journey.....and many connections and reflections on the bigger picture here...

Thanks for sharing ...

BB73

Posted 3 Months Ago

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1 Review
Added on October 1, 2025
Last Updated on October 1, 2025

Author

Pete

Boston, MA

About

I love reading, writing, music, nature, God and feeling emotion, not necessarily in that order. To me, these things go hand in hand. My favorite writer is Henry David Thoreau. I think he was a geni.. more..