World at my Window

World at my window, my window-framed world!
You twist and twirl my giddy-headed breath awhirl!
In sun and moon and rain you look in and walk on by;
In shade and dew-fall and wind, you heed not my sigh.
In my three-score years of commingled joys and cares
You scorn and laugh off my worry-come and sorry-go
And I, still the wild-eyed child dreaming his nightmares,
Know not I why like you I scurry-hurry-go to and fro
Yet cannot tell from whence meaning draws its breath,
The nights and days I live and die my years of death.
World at my window, my window-world! You swirl,
Twist, twirl, rock and roil my hair-thin head awhirl!
Come tomorrow, some other soul in my vacated chair
Shall draw for breath my expired, giddy-headed air!

Notes for World at my Window –
This poem is a portrait of what the world looks like through the eyes of a child to the day he grows old and dies. The portrait is alluded to in the phrase ‘my window-framed world’. As the world turns and the child grows old, the poem comes full circle: another child will take the old man’s vacated chair and breathe in the giddy-headed air he expired. Throughout the poem, it remains unclear if the persona will discover any meaning in life. Alliterations and rhymes help to reinforce the impression of a giddy-headed world intoxicated by the beautiful and the sublime with all its pains and angst.

World at my window: the poet addresses a personified world
Commingled: mixed, blended
Vacated: left as unoccupied

This poem is part of the Poetry Book “Arrow of Time“.

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