The Watcher
I watch life through hourglass eyes
As times drips down, eluding the wise;
Life moves past me, a dance of compromise
And I watch who loves, who lives, and who dies.
I watch life through spyglass eyes
So that no one sees my own bitter compromise
And I remain from afar, thinking I am wise
That no one sees my anguish and my cries.
I watch life through looking-glass eyes;
My own reflection looks back at me and belies
The folly of my loneliness where I thought I was wise
To remain hidden from the glances of others’ eyes.
Then I watch life through contact-lens eyes -
Fully in this dimension, and nobody pries,
Looking for the girl they all knew as “four-eyes”
Who used to perch in her ivory tower and longingly spy
For the moment when she could leap in and maximize
Hey joy at being something other than a pair of eyes.
I’m already here, via invitation from the wise -
No more simply watching through envious eyes.
Written 3/15/2008
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.
Nice poem. I don’t think I’ve ever read a poem where every single line rhymes. Line 16 might read better if it ended in “spies” but aside from that, a dark, creepy poem that is pretty interesting. Keep writing.
Hi someknowledge. Thanks for the feedback. I’ve experimented with ending lines with the same rhyme before, but this is the first one of that type of work that I’ve posted. I’m thinking about your comment about line 16, but will keep it as “spy” due to subject-verb agreement (if you distill lines 15 and 16 down to “the girl…who used to…longingly spy”, that’s what I mean). Thanks for your encouraging remarks, and keep visiting the blog!
-Nicole Nicholson