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Tag: thought-provoking

An old grumpy geezer

Published by Ondrej on November 1, 2025

To avoid being an old geezer
Frowning at the world
Glaring at “the youths”
For laughing, having fun

I realised I don’t need
sex, drugs and rock and roll
(ok, maybe just drugs)
(the others don’t sound too bad)

But I need to make space
For some joy in my life
In between all the spreadsheets
So I wrote this poem.

It’s easy for me to say, I’ve got work to do
and do it
It’s harder for me to say, I’ll go and enjoy myself
and do it
(so I wrote this poem)

If I make space for it
I’ll find my own path
Through the fallen leaves
And rushing rivers

So I spare you the experience
A few years down the line
Of meeting me
As an old grumpy geezer.

What is life about?

Published by Ondrej on September 24, 2025

A question I must figure out
Or else judgement comes swiftly
By the means of the axe
Inside my mind
A kind of relentless pressure
to keep moving, to keep understanding
Until a deadline: settling down: scary!!

I have to know it all before then
Have all the answers
Have all the questions
Have all the questions to the answers to the questions
Must not waste my time
Must not burn out!

But why? What’s the rush? Why all this life? Why not future lives? I can’t do it all.
But I can try 😎

Are they waiting for the end?

Published by Ondrej on September 24, 2025

How can people sit here
twiddling their thumbs
twiddling their life away
waiting for the next coffee break, the next lunch, the next weekend
are they being held here by the want of stability, money, fame, power?

(Maybe not fame and power,
working at a company selling nuts and bolts)

Maybe it’s a vision of themselves, a vision of comfort,
of seeming liberty—but a reality of thinly-veiled dependence
on package holidays and shiny new bells and whistles
waiting for life’s clock to tick silently by?

A lifetime abroad

Published by Ondrej on July 23, 2025

My heart is in a thousand pieces
Scattered around the globe
It aches as I reminisce
Of all the places called home

Day in and day out, the pain drips like blood
Small daggers of longing, homesickness and want
Stab relentlessly, morning by morning, day by day
As they make my heart wail and daunt

Living deep inside, like a burning poison
For which there is no hope of cure
All to do is try and craft a living
The result: only doubts are sure

Craft a living and a meaning
In all the foreign lands
Since all places are full of strangers
Where will you be in safe hands?

Try, try as you might
This seems like a lifetime’s Cross
Lean against it, if you can
Else all will feel like a loss.

The future

Published by Ondrej on July 29, 2024

Walking along the wheat-lined path
The future smiles in the wind
The past orchestrates and plays its wrath
As the singing breeze begins to din

Question-marks sprout like giant beanstalks
Impaling the clouds, making them bleed
Tears of pasts and presents walk
Hand-in-hand in this great deed

Sunshine on the trees creaks to a standing halt
As all the paths in front of me split and veer
The fields open up an infinite vault
They have my horse backing up to the rear

Perhaps they mean no ill deed
Perhaps they just line the road
Perhaps my heart will be joyful
Accepting the way without greed.
Picking up the seeds I sowed
And the leave questions unanswered
As they waft away in the summer wind.

History

Published by Ondrej on November 30, 2023

The plight of History
paths worn out
by lowered gazes
gutters soaked with
rivers of tears
swords blunted
with the hearts
of good ones, converted.

Converted to causes they
didn’t believe in;
converted against their will
walking on paths
worn by the tears
of those who’ve been there before.

In the middle of nowhere

Published by Ondrej on November 11, 2023

Such a funny sentence
What does it mean
Where is nowhere
and where can I find it?

Is it where the trees stopped growing
and the oil slicks stopped spilling
Is it where there is peace
and love amongst all?

Home 2

Published by Ondrej on October 9, 2023 
Home, tugging at my heartstrings
Home, slipping away into the dark
Home, why don’t I know what my heart sings
Home, why does every step miss the mark?

As the clouds cover all below
Shrouding memories in mist
Thinking of the thoughts in tow
All the things I might've missed

Questioning my happiness
Wondering what home I miss
And doubting my sadness
Longing for my beloved’s kiss. 

Onwards I go, alone but not lonely
As the way forward becomes clear
My darling, I know that only 
Want you to be by my side, my dear.

Anger

Published by Ondrej on August 1, 2023 
Shouting and throwing things
    spilled tears and spilled dreams
is this really how
    we ought to deal with life's seams?

My love, look at me,
    look me in the eyes
my dear, imagine a world
    with no surprises!

As fuming red turns to foggy hues,
    and words come out in two-by-twos
take a step back
   and see life's funny cues.

No need to spill and make a mess
    if only to one another you'd confess
don't bend over and cry
    and spoil your pretty dress!

If only we'd see what's life's everyday
    instead of fighting day to day
it's not that hard
    if you imagine the beautiful future coming our way.

Tired

Published by Ondrej on August 1, 2023 
Eyes drooping
Head pounding
             thud
                       thud
A relentless anxiety
    to keep digging mud

Shovel in, shovel out
    what's the point 
        of this night out?

Smoke-filled rooms
    and dainty hallways
the corridors of life
    sweep us away

We mustn't forget
    to breathe and pause
because it is in our power
    to change course.