Poem: For the Love of Lore

I wrote this poem last April for National Poetry Writing Month. It is a 'Bop' poem, a modern poetic form created by Afaa Michael Weaver.

For the Love of Lore

The world flies by like rapids round a rock

It crashes on me ever since I stopped

They’re gone a blur: oblivious they run

Embracing mantras young enough to mock

Abandoning the past in deep recesses locked

Cliches replay, no novelty beneath our sun

Look back a moment for the love of lore

Repeats itself so subtly you’ll be caught

Soon when of expectation you’re deficient

Like it grabbed my shoulder, whirled me round

Dismayed I froze: a spark of sense awakened

A few still stones the truth have also sought

'To know oneself' - a phrase pronounced sufficient

A lie! Our inner ear deserves the warning sound -

Our kind hangs on rememb’ring or we’re taken

Look back a moment for the love of lore

My voice grows fainter, weary from the strain

They will not, can not, heed the glaring warning

The ones with backwards eyes will not regret it

But continuing so to shout drives me insane

The past is full of fools who functioned by ignoring

My own attempts reveal that I forget it

Look back a moment for the love of lore