blake i - young and free

Hello world :o)

I submitted a couple of poems to a poetry prize earlier this year. One of the conditions of entry was that the poems be completely new and unpublished, even on a blog. So, now that I've made absolutely certain I didn't win anything, I've decided to post them. Here's the first poem.


Young and Free

I grew up out in a country town,
In Australia, young and free,
I rode my bike through paddocks brown,
Tracks cows had left for me.
My dad a preacher, man of God,
A shepherd of the farms,
My mum was shepherdess at home,
We kids grew in God's arms.

Dad died young. Then Mum got married.
Sis and I moved out.
I found my way to Sydney with
God's help and stayed devout.
A man just can't survive the bush
When books are his travail,
But God is God of everywhere—
right?
anyhow
Worked at my books as though for God,
Shined my light.

light all night,
never dark.
stark dreams, flashes of
everything i want
everything i...

Worked at my books as though for God,
Loved my church – my family.
God gave me comfort in their midst
And slowly made me holy.
I gave my all to...

In all I did,
Did I please You?
Was it You I sought to please?
Oh please
tell me my efforts won Your praise.

I prayed to God near endlessly,
Yet fed my soul with air,
I gave my all to greed
and lust And
languished in
my
guilt.
I sought to please my God
a bit
I sought to please the world
But no-one can be pleased when God
is more than word.

tread soft tread lightly
christian boy.
make not a peep,
whelp.
look at you!
your presence is a blight on our city of lights.
old men and old laws protect you, for now.
when they fall
you will fall
watch your back

So I take my place among my peers,
Hide my thoughts 'neath an unfurrowed brow,
I go and I mack on a burger and fries,
Flirt with the latest designer clothes,
Buy a new phone,
Ignore a friend,
while I pray to God behind unclosing eyes
unmoving mouth and
unempty hands.

i am, you are, we are ruined youth
our generation's curse is
endless potential
instant intellect
strenuous futility
constant misinformation
inherited depravity
shallow faith
mindless banality
and open eyes.
we watch
we hope
we wait
we die. Short days ago
We lived, we watched our parents strive,
A chain-gang breaking rocks and singing,
"We are the masters of our own destiny!"
now dead we lie, and dying
in their grave.

God save us.

I live my life in the city now,
Life contradictory:
I walk a dead man's walk, and yet
I live eternally.
God only knows
ahh...
God only knows how to survive
The temptation and the grief,
But that's just life for a Christian man
In Australia, young and free.

- Iain Hart