The Perfect Life by John Koethe

This was an excellent poem and may be interpreted in many different ways. In my opinion, the main message portrayed by John Koethe is that when we die all our success and riches are left behind. I say this because throughout the poem, John Koethe mentions the perfection of his life. He apparently then observes his life and success from a different point of view, which I interpreted as being death. We may observe this in the last stanza: "Feelings of contentment, but the human dies, and what I take for granted bears a name to be forgotten soon, as the things I know turn into unfamiliar faces in a strange room, leaving merely a blank space, which closes over."

In life, we strive to achieve perfection and fight to reach success, causing us to not fully enjoy every moment. Some of us have lost the true meaning of life and are full of ambition. Ambition causes us to sometimes lose touch of loved ones, not appreciate what we have, and become impatient. A great amount of people have as a priority gaining money, which impedes them from feeling true happiness. They work only to gain a salary and are never fulfilled with what they accomplish.

The poem reminded me of a quote stated by Buddha: "Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals." In this quote, we can observe that ambition brings impatience along with it. Sometimes people never accept that there are always people that are going to be better than us or prettier or even stronger. They therefore treat everyone they consider better or equal to them as their rivals and struggle to beat them. This kind of person is never tranquil and is always watching what his/her peers or colleagues are achieving.

In conclusion, this is a fantastic poem and it reminds us that life is not about reaching perfection but should rather be enjoyed and valued.