Poetry to Live By: A Collection of Thoughts

By William Ward

Over 50 original poems written by the author dealing with life, love and the way the world is. Immerse yourself into the world of prose with this unique collection of original poems that offer advice and support on our journey through life. Come and enjoy these wonderful offerings of heartfelt rhymes that will make anyone's evening an experience to remember.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Ward
• Release date: Jan 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310391576

William Ward

William M. Ward is a "baby boomer" born in the 1950's in southern West Virginia to parents that lived all their lives at that point in the rural settings of Appalachia then migrated north to northern industrialized Ohio when he was 3 years old to pursue the jobs of the day. William has had to deal with physical disabilities requiring corrective surgery on his feet and ankles to stabilize his walking. Over the years his disability has progressed to where it interferes with his ability to continue with a normal work routine. He spent 30 years in consumer electronics repair and at age 50 decided to change course. He then worked various office type jobs until retirement. William has been an avid book reader since learning to read and has always had hopes of writing and publishing some short stories or poems for the enjoyment of others. As is usually the case, hopes and dreams most times take a second seat to earning a living, so his writing has had to be delayed until he had the opportunity to spend the time required to produce the poems and short stories.In trying to realize his lifelong dream, William has set out to introduce his current offerings of poems to the public so perhaps he could find a way to get them out to everyone. He is trying to find financial support to do this by grant, donations, or whatever support for the arts may be available.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those that have crossed my path in the last three score years for it is you that inspired all these works and have fed my creativity and imagination. Without your input these words would not have been possible.

Prologue

Contained within these pages are a collection of thoughts written in poem form and are presented in no particular order. Life does not always happen in order so life's happiness and sorrows also must follow suit. Many people have expressed many things between the pages of a book and this is my attempt to bring a little joy, love, and humor into your life as you search for a way to express your feelings. I hope you enjoy reading these poems as much as I enjoyed writing them.

All poems in this book are original works written by the author.

Dreams Unborn

Yea, the peace of dreams as yet unborn,

Carry me thru the night,

Yea, the peace of dreams as yet unborn,

Watch over me, protect me, caress me,

Make everything seem right.

For tonight I dream from deep within,

From the place where nothing is forlorn,

But in that place where love will win,

Yea, the peace of dreams as yet unborn.

---William M. Ward

Prologue II

Concerns I had when I started writing my poetry.

I have learned something. This I am sure has been known by many people in many times, and I had an idea but I didn’t really think that much about it till now. Since I have been writing my poems, and I have only been doing them at this point for less than 2 weeks, I have found that they can pull emotions out of others that sometimes they were not even aware of. This is an awesome responsibility!! I started them to really satisfy myself, to shed some emotional baggage that I had been carrying and putting them into words seemed to help me release a lot of the hurt, anger, and yes love. Just coming out of a marriage that in hindsite I should never have entered into, believe me….I had that baggage. Still…that relationship taught me a lot….so that is how I tend to treat that part of my life, as a learning experience. Only thing is, I wish I had learned some of that stuff earlier in life. Now I am getting older and by no means do I consider myself to be too old to find happiness and love, it still would have been nice to be able to find and enjoy my TRUE love, that one all inspiring, all encompassing, all consuming relationship that I suppose everyone looks for when I was younger and could have more time to relish that love. But I digress…….getting back to the poems. Although I have always had a love of the written word and history is full of accounts where it was used to sway men's minds, these poems seem to touch a deeper part of some of those who read them. Admittedly, not all who read them are so swayed, some barely notice the words themselves much less the meanings and feelings behind them.