Taken For Granted



The things that make life worthwhile,
or that we couldn't live without,
are often taken for granted in our daily roundabout.
Not until our health is weak and we are frail and tenuous
do we prize soundness of body that is most ingenuous.
Not until the well runs dry
and yearning thirst is left unquenched
do we pause to evaluate how water must be retrenched.
Not until a love is lost and the vacancy is heartfelt
do we realize the importance of the fortune we had dealt.
Not until the lights go out and everything lacks energy
do we notice our dependence upon electricity.
Not until our parents die
and we are unclaimed, foundling waifs
do we conceive the shielding love
that for children's needs vouchsafes.
The things we take for granted,
presuming they'll always be there,
are subject to termination no matter just how unfair.
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Submitted on February 05, 2010

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
6

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCCDBEFFGGDCHCIJJ
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 810
Words 146
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19

Wallace Dean LaBenne

Professor, therapist, author and poet. more…

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