Saturday, December 08, 2012

CDXVII - What Might Have Been



dVerse challenges us to write a quatern.
Well, not one to duck a challenge, here is one.


What Might Have Been


We will wonder what might have been
If things had been some other way;
If the chance presented had been seen
And grasped, then embraced and tucked away.

Despite knowing it’s a waste of time
We will wonder what might have been.
Life’s a charade to which we mime:
The world’s a stage, the script’s unseen.

We live, as shielded by a screen,
From the actions on other courts.
We will wonder what might have been
But only as an afterthought.

It’s our want to lament the fall
Of the dice, thrown by fate’s machine.
Though it wont change anything at all,
We will wonder what might have been.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2012
---


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42 comments:

  1. it has been an honor to have had you for a friend, sir.

    I'm just... tired.

    Not making any headway...

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    1. We all, at times, take a step forward and three or more back, boneman...but it's okay...because we're all back there, too. I'm always taking one step forward and then in a blink, a few steps back again...getting nowhere...so you, when you do find yourself not making any headway...you're not alone...we're all back there with you. :)

      What's so great about headway, anyway....sometimes it does us good just to stand still for a while and take a look around us to realise where we're standing is not so bad after all.

      You've got friends, boneman...friends who care...even if they are of the cyber kind...they're still all around you. :)

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    2. I'm with Lee. Sometimes getting somewhere is seriously overrated and we just need to take time out to breathe.

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  2. Yep...I often wonder what might have been; what could have been; what should have been; and then I wonder what might be and what should be or could be...and then I turn on "Becker" and have a good old laugh!

    Good verse, Cosmo. :)

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  3. I don't spend much time on the might-have-beens. The here and now is frequently more than I can cope with. Just the same, I loved this, and admire your mastery of the form. Thank you.

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  4. We always wonder what might have been if we had taken the other alternative ... perhaps that's how human mind is designed. We never seem to be satisfied with the choices we make !!!

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  5. This is the reason God made alcohol. When faced with these questions, a glass or two of bubbly,watching Antonio Banderas on the tele makes things better.

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  7. Hey JC (AKA: "Lee)!

    I really enjoyed this Philo-Poem (I think I will coin that).
    I wonder if us older folks wonderer more about what is happening in parallel universes. I don't wonder much -- in the same way I don't wonder about heaven or hell -- but the obvious arbitrariness of our lives ("fate") does stand out clearly at times.

    Nicely done. I saw your "I am late, damn it" note over at d'Verse -- I hope others see it too!

    By the way, I tried to scan your first verse:

    '' /' /' '/
    '/ '/ '/ '/
    /' / /'' ''/
    '/ ''/ '/''

    Beth asked for "iambic, trochaic, or syllabic" with 8 syllable in 4 feet.
    Were you attempting that? Maybe you Aussies pronounce things differently. I am just curious how you'd scan it. (I am still trying to learn this stuff).

    Either way, it read very nicely -- which is all that matters, eh.

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    1. Thanks Sabio, I don't understand the notation. (I secretly fear you are swearing at Woodstock, the small bird in the Peanuts cartoon who I seem to recall spoke that way). I write by ear.

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  8. We all wonder what might have been...I think its natural to look back, but not to live and be forever crippled with its shadows ~

    Good work on the form and rhyming words ~

    Have a good week ~

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  9. So it is. Wonderful lines, and I love the nod to Shakespeare. I was hoping to see something from you in this form--I knew it would be worth reading.

    I don't know if Sabio will see this, but here's an opinion on the meter. Technically speaking, the form calls for four major stresses per line. The lines can all be scanned that way, even the first line that you have scanned with only three major stresses. The "We" easily conforms to a major stress--it's just that the English-speaking ear is used to sentences beginning with unstressed "pick-up notes" as it were. And so on. Anyway, the technical stuff is fun to me, but you're right--as long as it reads nicely, all is well!

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    1. Yeah, Nico, thanx. Like I said, it is a good read, and you are right, it has 4 major stresses. But Gay's assignment said,
      " usually written in lines of 8 syllables (four metric feet). May be iambic, trochaic, or syllabic."

      So I was asking Cosmo if he was attempting any of these. But he tells us he did it my ear -- which is an accentual metre, I guess. I am still learning. I was wondering if Cosmo knew the differences and was practicing a style I was unaware of -- because it was not one of the ones Gay mentioned as far as I could tell.

      I like the technical stuff occ. too. I am reading Paul Fussells's "Poetic Meter & Poetic Form" just now.

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  10. Hmmmm .... my sweetheart and I often have this conversation. What might have been had we met 20 years ago .... raised our own family together. It's comforting in the sense of creating a 'fictional backstory' for the 'us' that is now. But we both acknowledge that the mistakes and choices along our individual ways are what have brought us here together, in the now. I'm looking forward to creating our new story, together.

    xxx

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  11. This may be fatalism but I think things happen at the right time and at their own pace. There are people in my life who had I met them at other times, I would have been uninterested and moved on. The connection comes from them being what you need/are looking for in your life at that time. Similarly with opportunities/experiences - if they didn't happen, it wasn't the right time for them (yet).

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    1. That sort of parallel's my comment in a previous post, that the decisions you make are always the right ones, at the time. It's hindsight that plays with your mind. As humans, we seem unable to avoid dabbling in the 'what if's.

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    2. Not sure if that means if I am being repetitive or concurring.....:)

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    3. Actually, I think you have slightly skewed what I mean. I am more meaning the right place right time feeling, rather than any conscious decisions being right or wrong.

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    4. No, I did understand. That's why I said 'parallels'. Similar but different. But it sort of got a life of it's own. :-s

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    5. Not to muddy the waters, but meeting Soubriquet did not necessarily happen at the 'right' time in my life (in the sense that either of us were at a 'right' place in our lives for one another)... the cliche' is 'it happens when you aren't looking' and it is true for us. But it has taken us 5+ years to 'pull' our lives together. And to do that meant we had to act with intent and perseverance. So ... yes, timing combined with free will.

      xxx

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  12. "the decisions you make are always the right ones"

    There certain are decisions we think were good and would repeat but of course we still wonder.

    But you certainly don't believe that the decisions we make are the "right ones" do you?

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    1. At the time we make them, yes. How could they be otherwise?

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    2. Ah, OK, I see the sense of the word "RIGHT" that you are using.
      Then your statement is a tautology, a truism. "Right" is whatever we want to do.

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    3. Not entirely. Can you think of a time, any time, when you would consciously make a wrong decision? There may be times when you don't like the choice you are being forced to make but, taking all influences at play when you make the decision, you will make the best one available to you at the time. Later, with more knowledge, you may favour a different decsion. But, as the old Indian saying goes, 'You never step into the same river twice.'

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    4. Btw: a tautology is not a truism, by my reading at least.

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  13. You said, "Can you think of a time, any time, when you would consciously make a wrong decision?"

    Again, it depends on what you mean by "wrong". So we'd have to iron that out. What do you mean by "right" and "wrong".

    You said, " taking all influences at play when you make the decision, you will make the best one available to you at the time. "
    That is certainly incorrect -- if we are using words the same way. People make the wrong choice all the time. (cut the wrong blood vessel during surgery, take the wrong road, shot the wrong man ...) In many of those situations they can see that they were careless -- they had all the info the needed for the correct decision and failed.

    Or, I believe we are many selves, and one self (say the selfish one) comes to the forefront and hurts someone but you know it was the wrong thing to do -- you could have done otherwise but didn't.

    Perhaps you have led a saintly, hugely intelligent life. Or, perhaps we are using words differently.

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  14. Rest assured - I have not lead a saintly life but I'm flattered that you may have thought so.

    Where to start? Take the first of your examples - cutting the wrong blood vessel. Should a surgeon do that, surely he would have done it believing it was the right blood vessel even though it wasn't? The decision may be reviewed later and found to be incorrect but, at the time, he believed it was the correct vessel to cut. He would not consciously cut the wrong blood vessel. Of course, there is the Poirot scenario, where the surgeon wanted to kill his patient, then cutting the wrong blood vessel is the correct decision.

    So, to answer another of your points: by 'right' I do not be the factually correct decision, I mean the one the central character believes to be the correct decision.

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  15. Oh believe me, I did not at all suspect you to be saintly -- never met a saint. :-)

    (1) Yep, he believed it was right - OR was daydreaming and made a mistake. Many of our 'decisions' are completely unconscious. Either way, it was the 'wrong' 'decision' -- you see, all these words are problematic.

    Yes, you seem to be using "right" in an odd way, "Right, means that which the actor thinks is "right"". See how that is odd? "Right" just got castrated! :-)

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  16. Many times there is not a 'right' decision - which movie should you choose to see? - nothing right or wrong there in the measurable sense but you make a choice based on what you know. Later, you may wish that you had chosen otherwise.

    Perhaps you would prefer I used 'best' instead of 'right' I have no problem with that. The argument still stands, balls and all.

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  17. I agree about "no right or wrong" in many situations.

    And don't worry about your argument or your balls -- you may keep them all.

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    1. Thank you. Regrettably, and thankfully, you are not in a position to grasp either.

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    2. Editors note: A small proofreading mishap required me to delete a comment and repost it. Sabio's wink should follow the previous comment, not precede it.

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  18. Haven't you two had this discussion before...

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    1. Yes.
      http://jcosmonewbery2.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/reflection-1-choices.html

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    2. Yeah, I kind of remembered that but wasn't sure where. Same rather confused thinking - to me. But I am not sure if it is just wording or we really view "decisions", "right and wrong", "self" and such things very differently.

      I certainly do not like having a discussion where the only goal seems to be "I want to win". Instead, I am trying to explore concepts. So I hope I came across as trying to explore.

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    3. Thanks Sabio. I do appreciate your comments. I get a bit frustrated that what seems clear to me doesn't make the leap through hyperspace. But that is a fault with me, not you. :-/

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    4. Yeah. It seems like it would be a fun discussion over a few beers, though.
      But maybe that would be the wrong decision? :-)

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    5. With the information available to me at the moment, I would say that that is an excellent decision! :-)

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  19. A wonderful poem to reflect on dear J Cosmo, your are the best.
    xoxoxo ♡

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