Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Temptation



     
“Knowing was a temptation. What you don’t know won’t tempt you.”— Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale


SOURCE

“For me, temptation is life and I have a gargantuan appetite for everything.”— Felix Dennis




Midweek Motif ~ Temptation



Desiring something wrong or unwise is Temptation.

But isn’t it something extremely interesting and delightful once in a while? And powerful? How do you deal with it? Do you give in? Don’t you?


What tempts you most and seduces you to sin? 


Or how do you resist the temptation?


A couple of poems here:


The Temptation
by Charles Baudelaire

THE Demon, in my chamber high,
This morning came to visit me,
And, thinking he would find some fault,
He whispered: "I would know of thee

Among the many lovely things
That make the magic of her face,
Among the beauties, black and rose,
That make her body's charm and grace,

Which is most fair?" Thou didst reply
To the Abhorred, O soul of mine:
"No single beauty is the best
When she is all one flower divine.

When all things charm me I ignore
Which one alone brings most delight;
She shines before me like the dawn,
And she consoles me like the night.

The harmony is far too great,
That governs all her body fair,
For impotence to analyse
And say which note is sweetest there.

O mystic metamorphosis!
My senses into one sense flow--
Her voice makes perfume when she speaks,
Her breath is music faint and low!"



As By Fire
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Sometimes I feel so passionate a yearning
    For spiritual perfection here below,
This vigorous frame with healthful fervour burning,
    Seems my determined foe.
So actively it makes a stern resistance,
    So cruelly sometimes it wages war
Against a wholly spiritual existence
    Which I am striving for.
It interrupts my soul's intense devotions,
    Some hope it strangles of divinest birth,
With a swift rush of violent emotions
    Which link me to the earth.
It is as if two mortal foes contended
    Within my bosom in a deadly strife,
One for the loftier aims for souls intended,
    One for the earthly life.
And yet I know this very war within me,
    Which brings out all my will-power and control,
This very conflict at the last shall win me
    The loved and longed-for goal.
The very fire which seems sometimes so cruel
    Is the white light, that shows me my own strength.
A furnace, fed by the divinest fuel,
    It may become at length.
Ah! when in the immortal ranks enlisted,
    I sometimes wonder if we shall not find
That not by deeds, but by what we've resisted,
    Our places are assigned.


Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—
              (Next week Susan’s Midweek Motif will be ~ Writing Prose.)



12 comments:

  1. What tempts me? Truly temps me? Bread. I can't resist bread... All right, I can resist it, but it's sooo hard not to eat all the bread in the house (which explains why we never buy any). I only eat bread a couple of times a year, as a reward. Otherwise, I would eat my weight on freshly baked sourdough *sigh*.

    Don't worry, I didn't write about bread. That would've been much too tempting.

    Thank you for the prompt, Sumana!

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    Replies
    1. Love how you blow away blocks like chaff. You are amazing dear poet ❤️

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    2. I didn't add bread because I was playing with p's--but yes! Even plain with nothing on it! But I just had my first PT of the pelvic floor and may never eat anything but fruit again. Sigh.

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  2. Dear Sumana you ask, "how do you resist the temptation?" My answer, I write it. Thank you for another wonderful prompt. And I do like the poem by Baudelaire!

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  3. Hello poets, just posted mine. I'll catch up with you all tomorrow morning (here in India). Happy writing :)

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  4. Good morning, poet friends.......This should be interesting. I will ponder, and return. Smiles.

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  5. A wonderful prompt, Sumana! I love the Baudelaire addition. Thanks for hosting and for sharing these delectable examples. I will try to write something based on the theme. :-)

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  6. Such a lovely prompt Sumana! Thank you. And the poems are fantastic.

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  7. I'm going to keep my eye out for these poetry motifs.

    This is the first temptation I've had to post one of my poems directly on one of these sites.

    Some brilliant work above, well done everyone!

    ReplyDelete

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