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
by CJ Heck

This quote is truly
the mark of greatness.
But, have all the
noble poems been written
by classical masters
and those gifted
poets of today?
Are there still
meaningful works
left to pen,
not merely big words
from our swollen egos
spilling their contents
at the whim of a moment,
nor 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, 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.
As writers,
we poets
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 then white,
with imagery rich
and green and lush,
to live on in
future hearts and minds
even as we crumble,
bones to ashes,
then blow away,
dust to dust.
May we always write,
not to say
what we can all say,
but what we are
unable to say,
and not just for now,
but for forever.