pictured words

a simple pairing of pictures and poetry

Tag: learning from mistakes

January 5, 2020

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY

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Photo by Keith R. Good, 2014

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”  From The Go-Between, by L.P. Hartley

Hindsight is a curious thing.
It can swing from delight
to fright, and anything between.
I mean, we’ve seen the ways
the history books make crooks
look chaste.  But oh,
the aftertaste.
And who would know
we owe apologies for
theologies twisted,
persisted, and falsely
scripted.
As we become aware
and lay bare the lies,
our own past appears
foreign in our eyes.
Don’t bury the dead.
Look behind; look ahead.
Yearn for better days.
Find better ways.
Learn who we are.
Raise the bar.

© Marie Elena Good, 2020

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September 23, 2018

LOCKED

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“Pandora’s Box”  prompt and photo, provided by  Walter Wojtanik of Poetic Bloomings

 Out of fear
(or worse  —  indifference)
she waited too long
to unlock the trunk she daily
(habitually)
avoided. Tripped over. Pretended wasn’t there.

Summoning the courage, she unlocked it.
Discovered a long-lost page.
Dulled.  Faded. Not easily read.
Less easily understood.

For times had changed,
and, therefore,
the truths that had shaped them.

Right?

As she tried to examine
and understand,
she began to question

everything.

Perhaps wrong paths had been taken.
Destructive habits had formed.

Perhaps what was true, then,
was no less true, now.

Perhaps times change,
but truths remain.

Perhaps it was up to her
to unlock

release

embrace.

© Marie Elena Good, 2018

2 Comments
Image | April 27, 2015
hindsight
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