Bereft.

Helloooooooooooooooo readers. I trust your week has been good and now the weekend is here!
Honestly there isn't much to do but somehow I get by. :)

Lately, I've been feeling bereft, which happens to be the title of a poem written by one of my favourite authors, Robert Frost.

Where had I heard this wind before

Change like this to a deeper roar? 

What would it take my standing there for,

Holding open a restive door,

Looking down hill to a frothy shore? 

Summer was past and the day was past.

Sombre clouds in the west were massed.

Out on the porch's sagging floor,

Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,

Blindly struck at my knee and missed.

Something sinister in the tone

Told me my secret must be known:

Word I was in the house alone

Somehow must have gotten abroad,

Word I was in my life alone,

Word I had no one left but God. 

Source(s): StudyMode/Enote.

The poem describes a night in the life of a lonely man. The title, "Bereft" indicates that he has lost someone, leaving him "…alone" in his life. There is no evidence to suggest that the speaker is either female or male, nor is there any reason to doubt that the poet is the speaker. The speaker is very aware of sounds and movement around him, as one would be if alone. He believes that nature has orchestrated a "sinister… tone", because the secret of his loneliness has been discovered: "…my secret must be known". It seems to the speaker that nature is taking advantage of his solitude and attempting to intimidate him with its "roaring" winds, its "somber clouds" and its "sagging floor". The tone that is created at the beginning of the poem is an almost frightening one, as all the details of the dark night are listed. 

Although the poem is intended  for someone I personally relate it to myself. Being alone opens up ones attention span and thus they are more alert to their surroundings noticing the most trivial things about life. To say I have never completely felt alone would not only be dramatic but false. But grief as it is widely known is followed by wallowing self pity. 

Recently in my Neverland, a 19-year old boy, a fresh graduate and newly licensed driver met with an accident which took his life. Not that I was personally acquainted with the guy but I'd seen him around. He was somebody's son. Somebody's friend. But that's just putting it mildy. Truth be told? He was somebody. He had dreams. He had hopes. He had plans. Things he wanted to do. And he wasn't even given the chance to do that. 

So yeah, I'm feeling bereft and also extremely selfish because here I am with my whole life ahead of me. Or a day for all I know. 

I used to be obsessed with Archie Comics and although when I look back they were just about the constant love triangle between Archie-Betty-Veronica.( Yes, I always rooted for Betty) The only good thing I picked up was "Carpe Diem" which is Latin for "Seize the day". 

If you do the Maths(which I absolutely despise) one day is equivalent to 24 hours. Wow. A lot can happen in a week let alone a day. You can read 2 books. People are born. People die. You get the picture.

Anthony Robbins puts it quite simply; "Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human."

It is said that you should not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has its own worries and with this I wholeheartedly agree. If we had all the time in the world human beings would all have the trait of patience but I think somewhere at the back of our minds we realize that time flies and this builds up anxiety and brings out the humanity in us which is desiring more than we can have or achieve.

But nobody ever said our imagination should be limited. After all, we do have opposable thumbs and the ability to think and strategize. We can achieve anything and everything we set our minds to. We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken. Remember you only lose the game(yes, life IS a game and a dangerous one too!)when you give up. Life's too short to even care at all! Play it smart.

Carpe Diem my dear readers. 

Seize the day. 

You might not get another.

Until next time,

XXO

Sara Malik. ©

I Go To Seek A Great Perhaps.

Hello dear readers!
I think I've spent this entire week blogging or thinking about blogging and I have to say it has given my creative side great satisfaction. I really want to thank everybody who has taken the time to sit down and read whatever I have written so far and I hope you all continue to enjoy my work.

So I was looking up Interesting Topics for Conversations when I came across this site that had the question; "What historical figure do you identify yourself with?"


Well, I cannot talk about history. Nor can I identify myself with any of them for the simple reason that if they are notable they have done at least something great with their lives where as I very regretfully have not done anything worthy of note yet.

The good news is though, I have the rest of my life to get there and I will, hopefully.

Since I cannot talk about history I will talk about fiction. They say that it is no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
Source(s)- Mark Twain/Brainy Quotes.

And well Alaska Young makes perfect sense to me.

The 2 central questions that she constantly battles with throughout the book are questions that I often ask myself as well. 

"What is the best way to go about being a person..what are the rules of this game and how might we best play it?"

And then of course, there's my personal favourite.

"How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?"

I'm well aware of the fact that Alaska is portrayed in an illustrious manner but that is not why I identify with her. Towards the end of the book the labyrinth, how to escape it and what the labyrinth actually is are the main concerns of the characters but what I noticed was that Miles' image of Alaska being the perfect girl slowly shatters and he ultimately realizes that Alaska herself is the labyrinth. 

For example when he says: “I realized the importance of curves, of the thousand places where girls’ bodies ease from one place to another, from arc of the foot to ankle to calf, from calf to hip to waist to breast to neck to ski-slope nose to forehead to shoulder to the concave arch of the back to the butt to the etc. I’d noticed curves before, of course, but I had never quite apprehended their significance." The different curves of Alaska's body refer to the curves and edges you would find in a maze.

Alaska is different from the other characters because she is aware that the labyrinth exists whereas the others are at first oblivious. With this in mind she drowns herself in the labyrinth that compromises of pain and suffering and being mistreated. She constantly blames herself and with this I can wholeheartedly identify many a time when things take an unexpected turn. 

I didn't agree with John Green when he said "The only way out of the labyrinth is to forgive." But I did agree with Miles when he said "The labyrinth blows but I choose it." There is no proper way out but we keep living, we keep choosing the labyrinth. 

Every.
Single.
Time.

And finally I have to say that the way to go about being a person is ...undecided. It is very much like the Great Perhaps. There is no set way to live. Alaska's strategy is straight and fast before suffering anymore. And I identify with her but I don't agree with her. She's beautiful and smart but she's selfish. 

How do you think you can escape the labyrinth?

Until next time 
XXO
Sara Malik.©

Poetry Wednesday- Discussion

Hello my lovely readers! 

So what did you think of Having a Coke with You? Personally, I adore it. It's my favourite right next to Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

Right. So I'm going to be discussing what I think the poem means ANNNND towards the end I will be leaving you a few questions so please answer them because I would love to know what you think. :)

Obviously, like any other grand romantic gesture Frank O' Hara has written a poem about the love of his life and he goes on to say how he enjoys her company over any ancient piece of architecture that the world has to offer.

I particularly like this poem because he doesnt talk about himself alone but talks about the girl too. "Partly because of your love for yoghurt." Very honestly I can say that there is something very genuine about the way he has written because he talks about the most trivial things like her orange shirt or standing next to the right person when the sun sets when he could be writing about how he would feel if she died.

I really liked the part where he mentions the Nude Descending the Stairs and all the paintings because he's really talking about how looking at other women no longer gives him pleasure. According to him they could walk past him nude and he wouldn't even flinch. 

And last but not least Frank talks about(as I mentioned earlier) the trivial things that actually mean everything to people and not wasting any time by not letting them know how you feel.

SO QUESTIONS.

1) Which was your favourite verse and WHY?

2) Do you think trivial things matter?

Leave your comments below!
Until next time guys!
XXO
Sara Malik.©