Being Human

[Dark Muse]

Being Human

I never saw the point
of broken-hearts,
they always seem to be
so self-defeating,
your heart is your
own, and it is for
you to decide if you
are going to let
another rip it apart,
or if you opt instead
to keep it intact.

Relationships
live and die,
it is a part of life,
so why spend
another moment,
dwelling upon
the past?

I never considered
myself to be
inherently rational,
yet when it comes
to matters of
emotion, I have
always been
calculative.

But then
I have never quite
felt as if I was
altogether
human,
perhaps,
in the end
that is the purpose
of the pain.

It is the thing
which reminds
you that you have
a heart to be broken,
for me the heart
has always been
little more
than a blood
pumping organ.

While others
cry their silly
tears, I drift
through life,
feeling I must
be walking
somewhere
half-between
a sociopath.

[BienvenuJDC]

You spark an interesting idea.....


rational emotion...I must think about that for a while....

[MorpheusSandman]

One thing I've come to admire more and more about you, DM, is the play between your richly ornate, darkly romantic side and this other side which is so cool, so rational, so critical of what we typically perceive as being that other side. If I were to stand this piece side-by-side with so many of your others, it would be nigh impossible to discern they were by the same poet. I actually think this is a great quality. So many today forsake the path of the fox for that of the hedgehog. It's especially rewarding, though, when the two sides are so polar to each other.

As for this piece, I like how the tone of the piece is echoed in the cool, dryness of the diction and form. I also like the element of self-analysis that comes through. It starts out being so objective about a concept, but soon turns the concept inward. As for the theme itself, I'd say that it's simply in our nature to form attachments and then lament when they're broken. It's very difficult to go through life so detached. I guess it goes back to the hedgehog's dilemma; the closer you let others get, the more it hurts. If you choose not to ever let it hurt, the only recourse is loneliness. I don't think there is any path of compromise.

[tailor STATELY]

A sad but interesting poem.

Your protagonist is one who seems detached from the moment; in Freudian terms (If I understand correctly): one with an imbalance in the function of the 'ego' as an arbitrator of the psyche as a whole.

"little more
then a blood
pumping organ." - I think you meant 'than' here.

You began a comparison in the last stanza and only gave one choice to compare: "While others
cry their silly
tears, I drift
through life,
feeling I must
be walking
somewhere
half-between
a sociopath."..................and a "something"; on purpose ???

Oh, give me grief and tears anytime; and let me be alive !

[Dark Muse]

One thing I've come to admire more and more about you, DM, is the play between your richly ornate, darkly romantic side and this other side which is so cool, so rational, so critical of what we typically perceive as being that other side. If I were to stand this piece side-by-side with so many of your others, it would be nigh impossible to discern they were by the same poet. I actually think this is a great quality. So many today forsake the path of the fox for that of the hedgehog. It's especially rewarding, though, when the two sides are so polar to each other.

As for this piece, I like how the tone of the piece is echoed in the cool, dryness of the diction and form. I also like the element of self-analysis that comes through. It starts out being so objective about a concept, but soon turns the concept inward. As for the theme itself, I'd say that it's simply in our nature to form attachments and then lament when they're broken. It's very difficult to go through life so detached. I guess it goes back to the hedgehog's dilemma; the closer you let others get, the more it hurts. If you choose not to ever let it hurt, the only recourse is loneliness. I don't think there is any path of compromise.

Thank you very much. This poem is a very personal poem for me, in which I have in fact sometimes wondered if I was a borderline sociopath because of the very fact that I have never gone through elongated grieving periods when it comes to losses. I have had relationships, they failed, it sucked, and I moved on with my life.

I do not believe that I have truly been "heart-broken" and it is not because I have never in my life became close to another person, but I never felt my whole world was going to end because a relationship ended.

[Dark Muse]

"little more
then a blood
pumping organ." - I think you meant 'than' here

Ah thank you for catching that!



You began a comparison in the last stanza and only gave one choice to compare: "While others
cry their silly
tears, I drift
through life,
feeling I must
be walking
somewhere
half-between
a sociopath."..................and a "something"; on purpose ???

The suggestion of the "Half-way" was meant to suggest that the speaker who in this case is myself, is not a complete certifiable sociopath, or they likely would not even have the awareness that their reactions to things was not altogether normal.

But rather are somewhere between being "normal" and being psychopathic.

[tailor STATELY]

Thank you for clarifying - I suspected I was missing something.

[hillwalker]

A very interesting poem, DM - as well as the threads that followed it.

It does read a little like an ice maiden's lament - yet someone with a heart of ice could never write such a wonderful poem.

There is a great deal of humanity in this piece, and although you say you have never suffered a broken heart, and perhaps feel diminished because of it, I still believe you fully understand what it means to grieve for lost love and our experience has been enriched because of your willingness to share your feelings with us.

And, just to spoil everything right at the end. Personally I feel it might read better if some of the short lines were linked together, to give the reading a more natural flow.

But otherwise, a stunning poem. Well done.

H

[PrinceMyshkin]

I drift
through life,
feeling I must
be walking
somewhere
half-between
a sociopath.

"Half-between / a sociopath" and what? is for me the unanswered question, to which all the calm, deliberate preceding lines are a build-up. The poem works (as far as it does) as an apologia pro vita sua but on whose behalf or to whom does the persona need to make that defense - to whom but he himself? Elsewhere I've written "The person who has not been deeply scarred has not, perhaps, been civilized" and I believe that even while I recognize it as some pseudo-psychological romanticism, but I think the persona here has bought into that same romantic philosophy, that pain and empathy are what make us truly 'human'.

[dizzydoll]

For some reason I opened your poem before but then couldnt read it for whatever reason. Anyway I'm pleased it came up again.

Wow, I wasnt prepared for the last line, and I doubt you are a sociopath, not even half way. You have too much passion. Excellent read, and good to remember when that heart gets in its own way. And like you, I too believe the heart is more than an organ that pumps blood.

[Dark Muse]

""The person who has not been deeply scarred has not, perhaps, been civilized" and I believe that even while I recognize it as some pseudo-psychological romanticism, but I think the persona here has bought into that same romantic philosophy, that pain and empathy are what make us truly 'human'.

It is true, that I do have some very cave-man like habbits. I am in fact in someways a semi-barbarian. But I also think that so-called civilization is really just an illusion. Not to get into a whole thing off-topic.

Now joking aside, thank you all for your comments, as always much appreciated.

[PrinceMyshkin]

It is true, that I do have some very cave-man like habbits. I am in fact in someways a semi-barbarian. But I also think that so-called civilization is really just an illusion. Not to get into a whole thing off-topic.

Now joking aside, thank you all for your comments, as always much appreciated.

There's a saying: "Scratch a cynic and you find an idealist." In your case I might amend it: "Scratch a semi-barbarian and you find someone who longs for true civilization."

So, next time you emerge from your cave, perhaps you'd tell us something about what genuine civilization would look like.

[Dark Muse]

There's a saying: "Scratch a cynic and you find an idealist." In your case I might amend it: "Scratch a semi-barbarian and you find someone who longs for true civilization."

So, next time you emerge from your cave, perhaps you'd tell us something about what genuine civilization would look like.

That would be quite a complicated thing to get into. Maybe someday I will have the energy and inspiration to explore that topic.

But in a nutshell, I think we are the same as we have always been, we have just found different outlets to express to express are more primal desires and leanings. Though some people might say that we are civilized because of these modern laws which keep us from The Roman Coliseum. But that is why I saw it is an illusion, because football, boxing, wrestling, action adventure movies, are all just The Roman Colosseum.

We have just toned it down overtime, but the wanting, the desire, the need for it is still there. And I am not saying that is a bad thing. I do not think we should all together deny or suppress our more animalistic instincts. If we were in fact too truly civilized it would be quite boring in the long run.

But the very reason that I do love violent movies is why I would not call myself civilized and I personally don't feel the need to try and pretend like I am more civilized than I am. I embrace my primitiveness.

[MorpheusSandman]

Your last post reminds me a lot of Jung who wrote on this concept of man being trapped between two states of his animalistic roots and his god-like (ore, most humane-like, if you will) ideal. He once said "Too much of the animal distorts the civilized man, too much civilization makes sick animals." It's very true that as much as things change they stay the same. While man may be still evolving it's a much more subtle kind of evolution. But I don't think we're evolving into any kind of greater civilized state. Hell, I don't think we've made many strides towards that in thousands of years, really.

[Dark Muse]

Your last post reminds me a lot of Jung who wrote on this concept of man being trapped between two states of his animalistic roots and his god-like (ore, most humane-like, if you will) ideal. He once said "Too much of the animal distorts the civilized man, too much civilization makes sick animals." It's very true that as much as things change they stay the same. While man may be still evolving it's a much more subtle kind of evolution. But I don't think we're evolving into any kind of greater civilized state. Hell, I don't think we've made many strides towards that in thousands of years, really.

I am a big fan of Jung's ideas.