Promptly Poetry

I Wish I Never

I Wish I Never

That descending bass note tells us where we’re going,
bringing us to earth (this is not going to be a happy song)
and, with a name like Darkness, could it do anything else?
So it begins, one of Sting’s most insistent bass lines,
wedded to Copeland’s ringing chimes and drums,
the scene is set, dark, mysterious and so different,
growling in the background, remorseless as a river,
rolling onwards as if forever, deepening our unease.
When the words come, a chant of regret and despair,
the echoing voice piercing the bleak atmosphere,
yet building upon the repeating foundation -

I can dream up schemes when I'm sitting in my seat,
I don't see any flaws until I get to my feet.

Ah, creation in the ink-stained hours of the night,
to dissipate in the harsh glare of the morning sun,
leading us to the inevitable desire for permanence:

I wish I never woke up this morning;
Life was easy when it was boring.

To wish life away, to remain in dreams,
harking back to a time of simplicity and certainty,
surely the cry of the star trapped by fame,
yet the secret longing in every heart captured
in these complex times, the modern maze.

So the song continues to harp on
our awakened yearning for something we never knew,
a peace and escape into the light of a world
that doesn’t exist, searching for a key
to a door that’s wide open. But it’s never that easy.
Perhaps it takes a drummer
to write something so compelling.


Line Count: 30
Free Verse
For Promptly Poetry, Week 11
Prompt: Listen to one of your favorite songs and then write a poem directly after based on the feelings and emotions it brought about in you.

The song I chose is called Darkness, by The Police, not a group I took much notice of at the time (late seventies, early eighties) but one that I have come to appreciate lately. This song is a fairly obscure track on a late album that I never heard until recently. Ever since then, it comes back to haunt me every now and then. I happen to be in one of those times at the moment, hence my choice.

The most interesting thing about it is that it was not written by the usual song writer for The Police, Sting, but by its drummer, Stewart Copeland. I think this is the reason for its inexorable rhythm and beat - the main interest of any drummer. So the music sets the tone and this is completed by the dark lyrics that evidence a willingness to look at things from a different point of view. The whole song is very different from the norm and this is what first attracted me to it.

The three symbols that comprise the logo on the video are interesting. With nothing else to look at while listening to the song so many times, I have come to the conclusion that they represent the group itself. On the left we have a fairly simple figure representing Sting and his bass guitar (or maybe microphone). In the middle is Copeland himself, portrayed by the complexity of the drum kit around him. And then, a slightly more complicated figure than Sting, is the lead guitarist, Andy Summers. Note the wahwah pedal at Andy’s foot It’s a theory, anyway.

And so to the link: