“But the stars that marked our starting fall away.

We must go deeper into greater pain,

for it is not permitted that we stay.” – Dante, Inferno Canto VII

First comes life

in the darkness,

in the form of one who is not yet living

Life is blind,

because there is not yet anything to see

Life is quiet,

because sound cannot yet quite reach

 

Second comes birth,

and suddenly life becomes something new

Brightness stings eyes barely opened,

fresh ears are met with cries from within

Everything known

becomes something forgotten

 

And now life can truly be lived

 

Experience is gained,

words are spoken,

steps are taken,

emotions are formed

and destroyed

Senses overloaded with

pain and happiness

 

But then,

life becomes dull

Because there was too much to be seen,

life became blind

Because not every sound should be heard,

life became quiet

And everything known

became something forgotten

 

Now life comes to an end.

 

This poem was initially inspired by the quote at the top of the page from Dante’s Inferno, specifically the part about going deeper into one’s pain. I feel like that is necessary at times in order to gain a proper understanding of what you’re feeling and how to overcome it. Especially right now, when I’m at the age where my life is beginning to change into something I’m not familiar with in the form of graduation. I don’t think that I’ve really gotten it in my head that I won’t ever have to wear the uniform I’ve been wearing for 13 years of my life again, or see the same people I’ve been seeing everyday walk through the hallways. When I do think about it, I’m left with this feeling of loss and emptiness that scares me a little. This poem ended up being my own little version of The Divine Comedy, focusing instead on life and kind of how I view it, and not on what comes after.

In terms of punctuation, I know I have a lot to work on in terms of style and meaningful placement of punctuation that can add to the meaning of my poems. One thing that has remained constant, however, is that for some reason I don’t like using periods until the very end. I feel like poems flow and that everything is connected, so something like a period, which signifies a complete end, doesn’t really belong in the middle of my poetry. It felt even more important to only have one period at the end of this poem since I was telling the story of life, and the only way life can end is through death.