Moving On With Life: My Prose in Rhymes
Val enjoys writing prose in rhymes by always leaving a message of a life truism in each piece.

So many lives resemble a story filled with promises of a new beginning -- and staying at those promises.
You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone.
-- Roy T. Bennett
Introduction
In my relatively long life I have seen too many individuals whose life story could be summed up in the poem below. Thinking back over the decades I see a whole gallery of faces over which was tattooed the expression of defeat, a resignation from dreams, and a spiritual void.
People like that gave me, what we could call, a "reverse inspiration, while representing human specimens of what I didn't want to become. With my peripatetic -- or "gypsy" mind -- I kept worshiping change, never settling for sameness, all into these days.
Well, like they said it long before it became the way of my life:
"It takes alive fish to swim upstream -- dead one will go with the current".
We seem to unfold into something the seed of which we got at our birth, so I am not taking any credit for all wondrous events on the path I took, and nor am I blaming anyone for those bumpy sections of it.
That inner voice coming from the essence of what I am, kept reminding me of one rule to be followed in life -- to always be my best friend, not playing a mental beggar for something that I was supposed to give to myself.
In order to give something, we first have to have it -- and that also means love. Thus, it's never late to pay debt to that baby we used to be, by loving him or her. Being loved back may turn miraculous, bringing us happiness, health, and good luck on every step of our journey.
The following two pieces of my prose in rhymes depict: 1) Our getting nowhere in life, and 2) Our need to befriend the person that we are to change it all.
Still Only Rehearsing For Life
Clinging to the only self we know
we are voluntary prisoners in our jail
supporting actors in a monotonous show
rehearsing for a stardom, always ready to fail.
Under the spotlight so blindingly strong
our stage is everything that we can see
deep down we know our acting is wrong
but wrong is part of role we can only be.
Still happily lost somewhere in the Act One
hoping dropped curtain may mean applause
we are still merely starting, far from being done
not realizing how our acting is resembling a pause.
For, there is nothing like an epic plot in our tale
and we might as well step down from the stage
to join the audience wallowing in their own jail
looking around it's more spacey than a cage.
Lights over exit doors look dimmed down
not calling anymore outside of that place
and it feels like the only theater in town
with a repertoire of some old replays.
Here, even our director has fallen asleep
no wonder it feels like we're doing so fine
that old, and ever present annoying creep
playing our conscience at every spoken line.
Well, at least it seems to be quite safe here
unlike outdoors with all uncertain directions
of course, ours is not to play a Shakespeare
our act too simple to bother with corrections.
Who would want to leave the comforts of this stage
where close to nothing happens except rehearsing
and this seems like the way to embrace the old age
times of brave auditions are gone without reversing.

No Matter What Path We Take, We've Got to Take One Friend with Us -- the One Looking Back at Us from the Mirror.
I may be alone, but I am never lonely. I am always with my best friend, and that is me.
-- Debasish Mridha
Befriending No. 1
Everyone wants to have friends at high places
but no one seems to know how close they are
just slightly above all those wondering faces
is their powerful friend. not somewhere far.
The higher they hold their head in life
the higher is the place of their friend
so helpful in their ambitious strife
one ever ready to understand.
We do so little to befriend that soul
boring it to death with our complaints
and blaming it for missing our every goal
while claiming to deserve treatment of saints.
Weak are our efforts to make strong that bond
with that which is very best within our skull
that can take us to victories and beyond
no wonder life ends up to be so dull.
They hunt for all kinds of outside treasures
not seeing the one that's already theirs
it could be life of countless pleasures
by entrusting a friend who cares.
In that playground of magic and power
nothing is impossible dreams come true
so it's futile to seek a friend in ivory tower
befriending No.1 is all they should really do.
The video below depicts the topic of the poem above
© 2020 Val Karas
Comments
BRENDA ARLEDGE from Washington Court House on November 21, 2020:
Val,
I must say I loved these poems and the videos also.
Your words really did them both justice.
Being your own best friend is the most important part of living life.
Too many of us live inside the bubble doing the same routine day in and out.
Seemingly they tell us what life is supposed to be like when we get older and it is so boring.
It takes a live fish to swim...great messages here.