Watch and Wait

Time is but a fleeting moment for one as old as I,

The years of change come and go like the passing tides.

I’ve watched the world eat itself away,

And slowly grow back to live another day.

-

For all eternity I stand and watch the world.

I wait in the dark as turmoil resumes its course,

And the long lost heroes, half dead from ancient battles,

Rise up to fight for justice once more.

-

I shed no tears when a mother dies at childbirth,

Or when a boy is forced to become a man,

Or when someone realizes there is no hope and loses their will to live.

I think little of these passing moments, for that’s truly what they are.

-

For all eternity I’m cursed to watch and wait

And listen to the prayers of those who know they’re going to die.

I listen and lend them a silent shoulder to cry on,

For with no feelings or legs to stand on, I can do nothing but watch and wait.

This poem explains the feelings on an old person who has done nothing his entire life but watch the world pass him by without helping a single person. He’s watched ‘heroes’ stand up for their beliefs and fail many times in that attempt. He shows no remorse for the dead or those with hard lives. All he does is listen and wait for the hero to play his part once again, while the old man sits by and watches the world slowly drift into turmoil.

The last line shows the man to be a coward, “with no feelings or legs to stand on,” is the key phrase. It’s not that he can’t stand but he won’t stand. His cowardice is too great now for him to lift and toss aside.

I hope you liked that poem, it's one of my favorites, along with 'The River of Styx' and 'Where Heroes Fall and Die.'

Please please! Tell me what you think. I feel like I've gotten much better since my HORRIBLE attempt at poetry in 2004 and 2005. I want to know what you think. Everytime I show these to my parents they say "It's nice." NO LIE! I'm sick of that line, just like every other blunt one liners. Please, pick it apart. Tell me what you like and don't like.

I'm trying to make a book of poetry and I want to include this one in it, along with 'The River of Styx' and 'Where Heroes Fall and Die.' Tell me, should I add it?