Sircharlesthepoet

Poetry by Charles Joseph

A Dream To Give Up

Every day, I give up on my dream.
So I tell myself, I shall
try again tomorrow.
 
But tomorrow comes. Tomorrow always comes!
And that’s the problem.

Every day, I give up on my dream.
My dedication flares; my ambition enlightens; my legs ripen
and, into another world, I depart!
But this path. This path only prolongs
as I can no longer hear the song
of my Will.
 
So, by the end of the day, I give up on my dream.
I can no longer spin that wheel.

Then a day passes,
Regret buries itself in me
I peel myself off of the battlefield
I refrain from thinking of my shameful past
but regret already buried itself into me!
 
And after day after day comes and goes,
regret is reincarnated in me
because—you see—I try, I try
I really do. But somehow
every day, I give up on my dreams.
 
Some say it’s human.
Some say it’s okay.
 
But, I think that’s the problem.

I found the picture in a dark hole on the interwebs. If it’s yours and you’re hurt that I’m using it, let a poet know.

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Posted by:

sircharlesthepoet

My name is Charles Joseph—I am a young poet living in New York City! I write about whatever comes to my heart. 🙂

38 responses to “A Dream To Give Up”

  1. lindakerr36 Avatar
    lindakerr36

    You sound honest to me. And I think there’s a lot of the day in which you haven’t given up. My dark moments tend to be between 2 and 4 in the morning.

    Reply
    1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
      sircharlesthepoet

      You’re right. But on the days I give up, wow am I so hard on myself. Wow! But I’m trying my best to stay positive. I’m trying my best 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

      Reply
  2. James Garratt Avatar
    James Garratt

    This is really lovely – it’s put together really well.

    Reply
    1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
      sircharlesthepoet

      Thank you immensely James!!

      Reply
  3. Million Dreams Avatar
    Million Dreams

    This is real! I could relate to it… beautifully written! 😊

    Reply
    1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
      sircharlesthepoet

      Thank you very much! Yes, I shared it because I knew it’s something many people can relate to haha

      Reply
    2. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
      sircharlesthepoet

      Thank you for the comment!

      Reply
      1. Million Dreams Avatar
        Million Dreams

        You’re welcome 😊

        Reply
  4. ospreyshire Avatar
    ospreyshire

    That’s a very relatable poem. I felt like so many of my dreams have been forfeited for years now.

    Reply
    1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
      sircharlesthepoet

      Thank you for sharing <3 I hope you know that it's never too late to pick these dreams back up. And if you need some support, let me know and I'll always be in your corner to push you a bit 🙂

      Reply
      1. ospreyshire Avatar
        ospreyshire

        No problem! Thanks for the encouragement. I wonder which dreams can be revived, if you will.

        Reply
        1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
          sircharlesthepoet

          I believe all of them. We would just have to have the sufficient drive

          Reply
          1. ospreyshire Avatar
            ospreyshire

            That’s great! I certainly agree with having the right kind of drive.

            Reply
            1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
              sircharlesthepoet

              yes definitely!

              Reply
              1. ospreyshire Avatar
                ospreyshire

                Thanks. Did you have any dreams that you managed to revive?

                Reply
                1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                  sircharlesthepoet

                  Drawing :). I’m reviving it. More like revamping it. I’m still in the process and gosh there is sssoooo much to learn still. But I’m grateful because I’m finding ways to incorporate it in my schedule, and fitting in how I can learn the program I’m working with (I am learning digital art using the app Krita). So I have to learn the program, learn digital art and learn drawing hahaha. Tough process but possible and very necessary nonetheless!!!! I’m super excited! 🙂 What about you??

                  Reply
                  1. ospreyshire Avatar
                    ospreyshire

                    That’s awesome! I’m glad you’re finding a way to revive that dream and to improve in that craft. I hope drawing goes well for you.

                    For me, it’s learning another language so far. I took Japanese classes a long time ago, but over the past year I’ve been learning Lingala after finding out I’m part Congolese.

                    Reply
                    1. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      That’s beautiful. I love learning languages too! Do you have any goals that you want to accomplish once you’ve learned Lingala?

                    2. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      Thanks! That’s awesome with you learning languages. Which ones do you know? Good question. I certainly want to use that language in the Congo region if/when I visit there (of course, I would have to wait until COVID dies down to travel, obviously). I do want to learn other languages to be able to translate as well as being able to talk to people of different cultures instead of being just limited to English.

                      Ever heard of this joke?

                      What do you call someone who knows three or more languages? A polyglot?

                      What do you call someone who knows two languages? Bilingual.

                      What do you call someone who only knows one language? American.

                    3. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      I know English (obviously). But I’m borderline intermediate/fluent in Haitian Creole, French and Spanish (in order of which I am more fluent in). So I’ve been trying to improve my proficiency in all three of these languages. To be honest, native speakers have told me that I’m really good in them. What I’m missing is constant practice–i doubt myself more than I don’t know the language. Also, I wanna tackle Mandarin afterwards.

                      That’s great. I think learning languages to travel more and have better international experiences is wonderful!

                      Hahahaha omg I love that joke! It’s also veeerrrryyyyy true! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Something about American culture makes Americans think that English is the one and only language they should know. Granted, many nations are teaching their kids English as a big part of school (I doubt most Americans care to know that), but I think in the American culture we should put more importance on knowing a language besides English. At least learn Spanish since they all wanna go to Puerto Rico or Mexico.

                    4. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      That’s amazing how you have knowledge on all those languages. I’ve been dabbling in French as well, but I’m not fluent in it. Good on you for learning and improving on those languages. You know you’re doing something right if native speakers are saying you’re proficient in them. Mandarin must be fun to try. I’m also trying to learn Swahili, too.

                      Sure thing. Knowledge on more languages would be super helpful.

                      Nice! I’m glad you liked the joke. It’s funny because it’s so true! I’ve definitely noticed that about American culture. That’s true about so many other countries and you even have nations full of bilingual and polyglot people there in multiple African nations. I wholeheartedly agree with there being more language classes available.

                    5. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      Yeah, I also want to be someone who travels a lot to explore different cultures–so I want to be able to speak to the people, you know? Swahili is ssssooo cool omg. I had a friend in the past who knows it.

                      Yeah for example, I’m Haitian. I grew up in Haiti. We speak French and Haitian Creole in Haiti. So I grew up bilingual which was terrific as I navigated the states. At my job, I encounter a lot of international customers. I don’t speak Portuguese, but when some speak Portuguese to me, I understand and am able to help them. It’s great!

                    6. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      That’s great and it would be amazing to speak to others in multiple languages. It really is cool. There are even similar words to Lingala like “maji” is similar to “mayi” which are the Swahili and Lingala word for water respectively. They speak Swahili in the DRC, too, so that could help. Of course…don’t get me started about a certain company trademarking a common phrase everyone knows which is cultural appropriation. Urrrgh…But for real, it has been fun learning languages in general.

                      Okay, that makes sense with you knowing Haitian Creole and French. I’ve met people directly from that country before. What was it like growing up in Haiti? That is certainly an advantage growing up bilingual. Since you know French, you could go to France (obviously), Quebec, Martinique, or even Senegal, and you should be just fine talking to people. I could see that working with Portuguese because that and French are both Latin-based languages.

                    7. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      Haha, that’s funny. “Mayi” is the word for “Corn” in Haitian-Creole lolololol. What a coincidence! Yeah, cultural appropriation really infuriates me. But I guess that’s what happens when you’re not in power.

                      Growing up in Haiti was so fun and free. I don’t think I have and will ever experience that type of liberty again. Granted, there were a lot of messed up things going on in my childhood that I was not aware of, in addition to me not understanding how bad the socio-economical state was in the country because I simply was too young and I did not know better. But, honestly if I could have that childhood back, I would.

                      And you’re right! Speaking french is a big advantage, and with Spanish and English added to that, that’s a big portion of the world right there.

                    8. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      No way! Hahaha! In language terms, we’d call that a false cognate. Well, I now know a Haitian Creole word. I also wonder how close it is to the Krio language in Sierra Leone since the name Krio is based on Creole since there’s a good portion of the population who have Caribbean ancestry. Thank you! It’s super bogus when companies do that like one luxury clothing company (I think it was Versace or Louie Vuitton?) making clothes that looked like traditional Masaai robes, but with jacked up prices. By the way, the company I referred to in the last comment was Disney…You can guess what phrase they appropriated and would be right.

                      That’s amazing! I’m glad you had a great time in Haiti. I did wonder about that with some of the issues I knew about, but it’s good that you saw the good in your home country.

                      Thanks! I certainly believe so with how many countries have French as an official language across multiple continents. With Spanish as well, you could probably talk to a few billion people. I wish my Spanish was better, so I would’ve been able to have more conversations in Ecuador when I visited there a few years ago. One other country that people would be surprised to know that speaks Spanish there is Equatorial Guinea. Yes, there is a Spanish-speaking African country that exists.

                    9. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      I know there is a group of people in Africa who speak a language very similar to Haitian Creole, but I still need to look into it. Haha oh yeah!! I knew you were referring to disney. Their whole brand is based on culture appropriation :/

                      There is a lot of bad–most of it not being our fault–but my country is beautiful. Ohhh I didn’t know that. I should look more into Equatorial Guinea then. Languages are so interesting!

                    10. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      Yeah, I don’t know it’s the same country or group, but I know there’s connections with different ethnic groups on the continent with the Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, and African-Americans in some direct and indirect way. So you knew what I was talking about, then. Hahaha! Oh, yeah. I won’t disagree about that when the brand revolves around cultural appropriation. You even have an in-universe example with Peter Pan with the main characters wearing Native American accessories (saying nothing about how insanely racist the depiction of those characters are). With the film franchise I implied in that trademark issue, they stole from those 5 Swahili-phone countries, ripped off a song from a South African singer, and stole characters, some plot points, and scenes from a 60s Japanese anime. :3

                      That’s understandable. It’s a shame how neo-colonialism still affects multiple countries even to this day. I’m sure Haiti has it’s own natural beauty to it. Yup! They speak Spanish in that country. You might even meet someone named Manuel or Esperanza, but they have a native African last name. I definitely agree about languages being so fascinating.

                    11. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      Yeah, I know what you were talking about! And yeah definitely, we’re all related–no matter what type of black you are. It hurts me a lot to find out all the cultures that are being leveraged for people who are addicted to money. Hopefully it changes, one day.

                      The world, over all, with all its complexities and goods and bads is fascinating 🙂

                    12. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      Very good! I didn’t want to get too explicit with that case especially since I’ve gotten a reputation for referencing several parts of that controversy especially on my film/documentary/anime review blog and the people who follow it. Doesn’t help I thought I would get death threats for reviewing the original 60s anime, but that’s a different story. Boy was that movie ruined for me over the past few years.

                      Sure thing, Charles. I’m glad you think that way because things such as colorism and tribalism certainly don’t help at all. I do hope there’s positive change as well.

                      I certainly am a bit jealous of your optimism, but I will do better in thinking that way. I do find the world to be interesting to learn about nonetheless.

                    13. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      Hey man, haters are gonna be haters. If you have haters, then you’ve definitely made it. So keep that in mind 🙂

                      Optimism has been the one thing that has always done me right, so I stick to it hahaha 🙂

                    14. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      Yeah, the death threats didn’t happen and I was surprised that even some fans of the 90s Disney rip-off movie liked my review and wanted to see the 60s anime involving the #OneTrueKing. That’s certainly an interesting way to put it.

                      Good on you, Charles. I do need to improve in that regard.

                    15. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      Very interesting indeed!

                      And it wouldn’t hurt. A little joy never hurts nobody 😉

                    16. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      Thanks. It was mind-blowing finding out about that controversy.

                      Sure thing. I could certainly do my best to improve my joy.

                    17. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                      sircharlesthepoet

                      We all could 😉

                    18. ospreyshire Avatar
                      ospreyshire

                      That’s so true.

                2. sircharlesthepoet Avatar
                  sircharlesthepoet

                  So it’s a process to revive it. But I haven’t given myself a choice but to do it, so it’s gonna happen haha 🙂

                  Reply
  5. Dreaming Too Hard – Sircharlesthepoet

    […] A Dream To Give Up […]

    Reply
  6. Tomorrow, Maybe I Won’t Give Up – Sircharlesthepoet

    […] This poem first appeared at Sircharlesthepoet.com […]

    Reply

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