Freedom's Choice

 Freedom’s Choice

Such startling contrasts

Often get our attention

We often question why

When pain and suffering enter in

Yet in the midst of all of that raucous din

We seem to forget to ask why

All the beauty and majesty are there as well

Sometimes as small as the hermit crab’s shell

Sometimes as grand as the redwood

Sometimes in the message of a flower pastel

Who despite the presence of blackened death nearby

Simply shines on in all of its glory

Maybe I should learn the lesson here

Maybe I should hear the story

In spite of circumstances, war, or shame

I can still go on, living my name

Reveling in my freedom to choose the good

11/18/18

Springtime

Springtime

It's snowing flower petals at my house 

pinks, purples, whites 

all the while the sky is sullen

ashen grey 

what a contrast on this day

maybe it is what you see, 

or how you see it,

that makes the difference

The Role

The Role

How I see facts

May not be how reality sees facts

So what I see, what I experience

Might not be the truth at all

It might be a part of the play

The key point in the drama

Where the antagonist is in the midst

There just might be a turn in this plot

Rising up on the horizon

So maybe I will wait here for the sun to rise

Before I embrace the darkness of the night.

The Awakening (Embrace)

The Awakening (Embrace)

Whoa!

I almost fell off the edge right there

Teetering on the brink of insanity

Boredom

Uselessness

Nothing is ever good enough

Nothing is ever good enough

The poets once said

“Same as it ever was

Same as it ever was”

I believed them

Now I’ve walked that path at least thirty years

And have found that it ends up here at a precipice

I almost fell right off the edge

So now what do I do?

Do I turn around 

Retrace my steps

Go back to wherever this started?

I might die before I get there

Or I might live

I might be completely overwhelmed with monotony

Or I might see the subtle differences

That come with seeing things from the opposite way

All I know is I have come to this day

Almost aimlessly

Is it too late to set a new course?

Is it too hard to begin anew?

Maybe,

But it is surely more mundane to keep going

This path I have already chosen

This dirty snow, these rocks that are frozen

Give me nothing firm to stand upon

I decide that I must not carry on

I must decide to embrace the difference.