The Role of a Writer

"The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say,
but what we are unable to say." ~Anais Nin

The Role of a Writer
This is truly the mark of greatness,

but have all the noble poems

been written by classical masters

and the gifted poets of today?

Are there meaningful works

still left to pen,

not merely big words

from our swollen egos
spilling their contents

at the whim of a moment,

nor with the simplistic meanderings

of joy, or grief, or love?

To answer my own question,

I say write on, dear poets.

Allow not your words

to decay unwritten

in the brilliant minds of today
where they'll lie barren and unread

only to wither and crack and parch

as clay in the desert.

I do believe there are jewels

left to be written.

But if we must write,

it should be for the future,

for the common man

who will gain most from

these words he cannot write.

We have an obligation

to write in a way

that he may glean what he can

from writings of poetic merit,

not stumble through

obscure words which are,

to him, as bird droppings

on a splintered windowsill,

left to die in obscurity

gathering nothing but dust.

If we must write,

let us write for those who are unable,

so the future might find our words

alive and fertile, their tilled soil

begun as thoughts and feelings

first seeded in keen minds,

then sown into black and white,

rich and green and lush,

to live on in future hearts and minds

even as we crumble, ashes to ashes,

and blow away, dust to dust.

May we always write

not to say what we can all say,

but what we are unable to say

-- not for the now, but for forever.