Not As The Sparrow (30/30)

Well this is it...the final prompt from NaPoWriMo. For this last challenge, we had to find a short poem and rewrite each line replacing each word (or as many words as possible) with words that mean the opposite. I chose...

As The Sparrow by Charles Bukowski


To give life you must take life,

and as our grief falls flat and hollow

upon the billion-blooded sea

I pass upon serious inward-breaking shoals rimmed

with white-legged, white-bellied rotting creatures

lengthily dead and rioting against surrounding scenes.

Dear child, I only did to you what the sparrow

did to you; I am old when it is fashionable to be

young; I cry when it is fashionable to laugh.

I hated you when it would have taken less courage

to love.

My opposite rewrite: Not As The Sparrow

To refuse decay you must not give into rot,

and as your joy rises round and full

above the healed land

you skip over frivolously outward-fixed shores straightened

with colorful-armed, colorful bellied flourishing critters

momentarily alive and obedient to distant vistas.

Dear child, you do not do to me what the sparrow 

did to me; you are young when it is passé to be 

old; you laugh when it is passé to cry.

You loved me when it could have taken more courage 

to hate.