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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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Daily Cascade #1094077 added July 25, 2025 at 11:39am
Restrictions: None
Bittersweet Life and Ray Bradbury
Prompt:
“One day you discover you are alive. Explosion! Concussion! Illumination! Delight! You laugh, you dance around, you shout. But, not long after, the sun goes out. Snow falls, but no one sees it, on an August noon.”
~ Ray Bradbury
Let this quote inspire your entry today.
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Oh, oh! Now I feel like re-reading Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine once more. And yes, youngsters better know that we oldies did have a past, even if childhood was denied to some of us.
The quote in the prompt begins on a happy note: The vibrant realization of existence. How lovely it is to suddenly see the joy of being alive! Energy, optimism, celebration are all there. Well, especially if you are young and life looks promising with many possibilities.
Not long after, however, the sun goes down, snow falls, "but no one sees it, on an August noon." Such a writerly way of expressing the idea as a contrast of the earlier jubilation and the arrival of harsh reality! August is a month of warmth and sunshine, representing the peak of summer and vitality. Snow, on the other hand, symbolizes coldness, death, and the end of things. "Yet no one sees it" points to the transition between the two contrasting ideas. This way of positioning the two ideas is exquisite, if you ask me. It shows that loss can arrive suddenly and unexpectedly, even when we expect only happiness.
Be it subtle and barely noticed, we feel the impact of change deeply. We also mourn, deep down inside, the inevitable presence of sorrow and loss in life, often arriving unexpectedly, together with Ray Bradbury and Douglas Spaulding, the young boy of twelve, who is the main character in the story.
Frankly speaking, when I first read the book, I was quite young, but still I was impressed. Then, I read it again couple of decades later. Thinking back, I saw more in it than what I got out of it the first time. Maybe, I'll read it again and see how I react to it in my old age.
Funny how this entry ended up becoming something like a book review. So, here is something I conjured up just on the quote.
Bittersweet
Bittersweet life, so brief, so long,
Yet, on the days when wonder emerged
through the trees, with a wisp of laughter
in my child's voice
How fast they passed, and gone how soon
like petals falling from my open hands
as if dreams slipping away
How Joy bloomed bright but bowed
to the night, flickering away out of sight
like an old used-up candle
But to leave a soft refrain, a memory's kiss, or
a whispered song in the dust for what's lost
to be found again
Bittersweet life, so brief, so long.
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