Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed

What’s that sound outside beneath my window?
Just before the dawn breaks, and the sun begins to awake.

The rustling of leaves and the winds begin to hasten—
As they welcome beckoning me for another glorious morning.

Majesty revealing, as vibrant colors paint the skies,
Awestruck I peer, as this breathtaking canvas unfolds before my eyes.

Splashes of color and fragrances fill the air—I take it in!
Listening to the sounds their every detail, of animals foraging for their meals.

I drift outside my own tentative and temporal existence,
Timelessly gazing through the pains, every movement a different frame.

Every brushstroke it paints a different picture, masterpieces of art—
Is there was a way to capture, each wondrous moment that enraptures?

Shutter speed slows it down, life is moving by too fast.
Each moment soak it in, don’t let this beauty pass.

When life is on high speeds, and it seems out of control—
Switch the knob on your camera, and slow your life down.


--By Greg Butz, March 1, 2009

This is the first of my completely random poems. I just picked a neat sounding word like "shutter speed" and wrote a poem in reaction to it. It was also in the middle of the night, so quite different than the title of the poem. In some ways it is the opposite of one of the poems I'm currently working on "the day without the sun." But I'm not finished with that one yet. The idea of this poem is obvious -- our lives are so fast that we should just slow it down and take in the sights.