LORD TOPH on Reciting “A Crooked Shadow”

Reciting “A Crooked Shadow”
LORD TOPH
Often times what is written affects us. Or more specifically, it moves us emotionally. Yet the same written words can become more intensified when delivered in a certain manner. I would like to share with you an excerpt from my book entitled, “Five Old Wives’ Tales.” It is a small collection of fictional proverbs; each is narrated by a different individual to uniquely enhance each composition. This is the one which I narrate to share with you. I truly do hope you enjoy it.
“A crooked shadow of a man means good fortune has abandoned him”
A pen, a brush, and a few scored lines
These are all the things I leave behind
Yes – this is what I am made of
My design
Yet how is it that I would come to be confined?
In this mass merciless lull
That leaves men blind
Mediocrity – even in the most meager degree
Is surely not suited for me
Nor shall be her assets
Of impecunious means
Today’s sun is boldly being hidden
By a quiet sky
With copious loads of clouds
In desolate shrouds of gray
I am without a shadow now
Much to my dismay
During this bleak compendium
A scene appears in sheets of slanted rain
Which came early on this morn
To rival my planned agenda
To disrupt my cause
In some abrupt disturbing way
It is apparent
That some hint of reason has been ensued
And now serves as lesson
To ring true
If not so – then my peril is in vain
I shall be abased and accept its ranks
Should it be that all I might rightfully claim
Is an advent of which I must sum up by saying
A crooked shadow of a man
Means good fortune has abandoned him
Gone south are his impervious plans
When his shadow comes to bend
His shillings shall be sparse and slim
I am not yet doomed to accept this state
Of being sedentary in disposition
While lying here in wait
With bills a many
And dreams waylaid
I charge my pen to contend my debts
As my brush shall stroke away
All my misfortunes
And absolve all my disdain
Through scored lines of composed notes
The song will silently come
That I shall sing and come to know
Despite the dictum of contrary gloat
I – and my melody shall bring irony
To those who vote
Those who choose to accept and believe
An ignorant notion as it has been told
I am not the man
Of bended fate
Nor the metaphor infamously known
I am indeed the reaper of my good deeds
From a domain far afield
To a dominion of minions
Who worship foolish idioms
Bestowed on those below
Slighted and succumbed
They are in their plight
And destined they are to be
Consumed by their predicament
Under the veil
Of a crooked shadow
· Purchase “Five Old Wives’ Tales” at Amazon.com
“A Crooked Shadow”
Monté CrisToph Literature
Monté CrisToph Multimedia, Inc.
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