this bliss

Not uncommonly,
They may ask of you,
to look around-

Take in the view,

as it were,

but it is best to leave it out.

In cases when told

This is the way it is done,

one need not rush toward the end.

And if casually asked to share your secrets

be willing to concede

the bigger half will be theirs.

Often they say They have been there

and done just that, you know

not that same annual vacation-exactly.

Repeatedly
They always say-They hear you,

it would have happened

either way-as if unaffected by choices
made either way.

Finally,

They have never seen you look this way-

Has something changed?

This acceptance,

This silence,

This resolution,

This endurance,

You have never seen this

on me, is it new?

I guess,

I call it Bliss.


Painting by John Melhuish Strudwick (1888) in [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Trace particles

We need oxygen and yet there is
only 21% of this to share...
What else is there...
Well,
We all need water, and yet we find
one percent of this elixir, potable
on this Cagean terraqueous orb.

We need sleep, we tire and tear
with wear, we need to turn it all off,
down and out, overdone, burnt and
wasted, inward.

And consumables can be
inedible as well as hollow.
But empty calories make
friction

wiser we no longer mind
insurance and investments
but with luck we discover

miserably in need of love.
Just don't hold others breath
or lick other wounds,

this one silent assassin,
starved by selfish need
of Other.

We will share,
because we want to live
to some percent.



Pastel on paper by Stanisław Wyspiański, The Mulchs ("Planty" at night), c.1898 in [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.