New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
The Dark Side
Anger
Neil Harding McAlister
« La vie étant ce qu’elle est, on rêve de vengeance. » - Paul Gauguin
Against unyielding crag on storm-swept shore,
In useless fury smites the raging sea.
An angry heart so breaks for evermore
Upon the barren cliff of memory.
We hate the ones who kept us from our goal,
Abusing our sweet trust with lies or guile;
The faithless lover who once scarred our soul;
The false friend with the condescending smile.
Who would not burn, unnoticed and ignored,
When rivals steal the credit for his labor,
His contributions unacknowledged, scorned,
While others feast on fruit he worked to savor
A careless insult haunts us like a curse
That strikes us mute, not knowing what to say.
At night we fret and sleeplessly rehearse
Lost wars we might have fought another way.
Should we strive to be like our enemy,
Surpassing his deceit, if we are wise
It surely would be vile hypocrisy
To emulate the traits we most despise.
How could we fan to action and redress
A smoldering ire that fears to speak its name
When conscience counsels our uncertainness,
Revenge dissolves in bitter, silent shame.
And when crude vengeance cannot satisfy,
We fantasize that in some future days
Such glowing deeds our name may dignify
That old foes shall regret their callous ways.
Oh pointless Anger, must you learn so late
The lesson that we always should have known
The heart hurts but itself when, filled with hate,
It beats against a past that’s carved in stone.
We cannot rest while tempests blast the mind,
And never can we cross a wrathful sea
‘Til time may calm the waves and help us find
The deep, still waters of maturity.
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