LEAVE NOT A RACK BEHIND

....Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.         -   The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158.

LEAVE NOT A RACK BEHIND....

Have you ever been caught
With a phrase or a word
Winging, like a bird,
Round and round in your brain?

A  refrain you need to capture
Or lose it ever after!
Those times you scramble
For paper and pen, ever faster

But never fast enough
To quell the fear rising
Like an old tomb
Thrusting through the gloom

Surprising the resting spirits,
Of ideas withered on the vine
Lost in the vagaries of time
Before they could become.

Hear the beat of the ancient drum
And rise to seize  the essence fleeing
Before it renders us blind
Lest we leave not a rack behind

...... To justify our being.

© Susan E Birch  -  APRIL 2014