Dreaming Of Running – 3rd October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen 
Man is sick but he can’t rest
the dog sleeps all day, dreaming of running

Faith is never pure and rarely true
it takes a degree of intellect to behave that stupidly.

A family measures time in dogs and cats
but my stomach and bladder tell me the time

We of the low-style, vulgar horde:
can you imagine the boredom of being a god?

Life has never been so good
and I’ve never felt so bad

I am full of self-inflicted knowledge
I’m nothing, if not a contradictory man

Every translation begins and ends in failure
—ravishing portraits of otherwise

Walking around with the weight of his potential
The poet acts as a guide

Written for the dVerse prompt to break form with couplets, this piece let me use random lines I’d noted down over time. The first and penultimate lines link to their origin. The ‘vulgar-horde’ line is taken from Dante’s Inferno. The ‘translation’ line was definitely appropriated from somewhere now forgotten and the ‘ravishing portraits’ line is by Maria Popova.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

A Mantra Of Mutual Interdependence

The butterfly weaves a whirlwind
As sympathetic stirrings follow
All rivers lead to the one lake
The same waters that we all swallow

14 thoughts on “Dreaming Of Running – 3rd October 2026”

  1. Your poem is so different to the others I’ve read from this prompt, Shaun, and there is much that resonates, especially:

    ‘Faith is never pure and rarely true
    it takes a degree of intellect to behave that stupidly’

    And ‘I am full of self-inflicted knowledge
    I’m nothing, if not a contradictory man’ (or woman).

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