Etiology
The source of all my troubles is comparison
Comparison always leaves me wanting
Or it leaves me full of pride
It has never placed me in the streams of peace
Never has it put me in the fields of love
Never has it let me sleep the night away
In dreams of wonder and awe
Everywhere I go now
I am judged and compared
I can’t sing like the one on the radio
So I forever stop singing and meekly listen
I’m not beautiful like the one on the gilded screen
So I don’t place my ugly anywhere in the world
Even where it is desperately needed
I can’t write like the laureate
So I drop my pen
The poems are never born
I can’t dance like the ones on the stage
So I am still
Winds of joy never move over the earth
In other words
I compare
And I die
We wonder why there is such a despair in our world
It’s time to live
It’s time to stop comparing
To stop quitting because I don’t “measure up”
To hell with your ruler
To hell with your rules and measures
I am me
There is no other like me
Never will there ever be
I was planted in this world to grow
That is exactly what I plan to do
To grow right where I am planted
And not worry about the weeds around me
Or the weeds within
I will look to where the sun is
Ever growing toward the light
I will sing
I will laugh
I will dance
I will be who I am
And Life will permeate the earth
I will no longer compare
3/17/19
