Poetry Friday: I Wish to Live

Today’s Poetry Friday is Hosted by Reflections on the Teche

Choosing a poem from a poetry collection is always difficult. When asked to do the honors of choosing poetry from KJCA’s for love and poetry I wondered about the criteria, should it be representative of the collection, one poem from the various themes. In the end, I chose to feature poems that spoke to me.

For this final feature, I chose a poem that speaks of living in a different time, finding the same love and wishing for that love to exist in a simpler time. This poem changes your perception of it with a simple line as, “And meet you when you are young as I am.” It’s what makes this poem interesting to me, and well, being an Austen Fan, I know how it feels to wish to live in the past (well, romantically speaking, I do enjoy modern life).

 

I wish to live

Someday,

I wish to live during the 15^th century

Or perhaps anytime over a hundred years back

As long as I find you there

And meet you when you are young as I am,

Wherever you may be looking for me.

Someday, I will live centuries ago

Where candles burn longer,

And the night is not day, and the night is silent,

And the houses are wood and stone,

And music is written and sung

Like poetry and prayer.

 

I wish to live during the old times someday,

And I will collect pigments and paint pictures

With blunt paintbrushes and broken glass.

I will search for you wherever you may be

And if I find you, I will ask you one thing,

And you will love me for the rest of my life

——–

The Poet: Kristian Jeff Corteza Agustin

Born in 1984, the Year of the Rat, and a ‘Cancerian’, he delves into art and poetry as an effective means of self-expression and learning. In 2012, Agustin accomplished his Master’s degree in Visual Culture at the University of Westminster, London in 2012, after completing his dissertation on ‘social media interventions in governance and subject formation’. In 2006, he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, where he co-founded the Sirkulo ng mga Kabataang Artista (‘Circle of Young Artists’) in 2002 and served as its Artistic Director to date.

Hope you enjoyed our featured poet’s work. For more details on his work, you can check out his official site: universeandwords