The wisdom of “this, too, shall pass” has not passed.
Thought #33
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Author Archives: abclarke
Thought #32
Those who are reckless
Rarely end wreckless;
Those who are careful
Often end cared for.
But the dance
Before the crash
Warms the blood
And stirs the soul.
And the cautious man
Is the forgotten man.
Poems For Her #4
It’s possible,
Pig,
That you know
When Edgar visits
Pancakes and toast
Are off the menu.
It’s conceivable,
You miserable, vomitous mass,
That you know
Shaking brooms and
Golden eggs
Are rituals of love.
And that to the pain
Is the inevitable end.
But perhaps
We have the strength
To stand together
After all.
Thought #31
When I was young
I chased their gossamer wings
Now I sit still
And they come lie with me
Almost, But Not, Symmetrical (8)
Math gets it right.
The normal sticks out from the plane.
And if everything is normal
There is no plane.
Life gets it right.
It’s normal to stick out from the plain.
And since everything is normal
There is no plain.
Almost, But Not, Symmetrical (7)
I am all alone.
You are all alone.
We are all alone.
Together.
⇒
I am not alone.
You are not alone.
We are all
Together.
The Only Guarantee Is One More Night
Each day, a new beginning;
Each night, a lonely end.
So greet each day with grinning;
’Tis night we must attend.
Causation vs. Correlation
Some old folk are children
Some young folk are elders
Age and wisdom are correlated
But numbers do not cause insight
Keep Going
They say when you’re going through hell,
Keep going.
But when you’re in heaven,
Keep going too.
Because while now is forever,
Your time is not.
And I promise you the divine
Is just around the bend.
Almost, But Not, Symmetrical (6)
The point of life is to die a good death;
For the time we spend dead
Dwarfs the time we spend alive
And a good death is sung of for ages.
The best odds for dying a good death
Is to live a good life,
So that in the final moments
Those alive sing of your life for ages.
That measure is taken at the last breath
Which brings hope to the vilest of villains:
A bad life can be eclipsed with
A single act of momentous selflessness.
That measure is taken at the last breath
Which brings fear to the purest of puritans:
A good life can be eclipsed with
A single act of petty selfishness.
Founding Fathers Fretting
Those screaming
For freedoms
Without acknowledgement
Of responsibility
Throw tantrums
In harbors
For representation
Without taxation
Please Review My Pull Request
The Nature of Growth
Discomfort is the nature of growth
Teething pains in toddling monsters
Aching bones in teenage boys
Tiring brawn in hulking warriors
Anxious doubts in brave explorers
Mournful thoughts in dying men
Almost, But Not, Symmetrical (5)
Infinite sets can be of different sizes.
The set of integers in the universe continues ad infinitum.
The set of real numbers in the universe continues ad infinitum.
Yet reals are more infinite
For reals are manifold between integers
If you know how to look.
The set of ugliness in the universe continues ad infinitum.
The set of beauty in the universe continues ad infinitum.
Yet beauty is more infinite
For beauty is manifold between ugliness
If you know how to look.
On Faith & Future Wrongs
Things are going wrong today
Things have gone wrong in the past
Things will go wrong in the future
If I apply right principles
Things still go wrong today
Things still go wrong in the future
But over the curve of time
Things go wrong
In increasingly right directions
Concrete Maladies
Our concrete maladies, edifices of misery, rise from foundations of trauma.
Our masonic rituals pile rock upon rock through habit learned of our fathers.
Some cry, “tear it down,” as though absence of sorrow is what we seek.
Others landscape parks amid towers, flowers amid caves, and weave beauty.
I wish nothing more than to apprentice in the dirt.
Poems For Her #3
You were out of my league.
I was out of your league.
After decades of play
We’re in a league of our own.
And while
You neither keep
Nor settle scores,
I know I won.
Poems For Her #2
Knowing the secret to
Enlightenment is detachment,
I joyfully condemn
All my future lives
To Buddhist hells
So I may cling to
This life of union
With you.
Poems For Her #1
We are not destined to be together.
We are not lovers foretold in song.
No word of gods proclaim our union.
No golden chariots parade
Our perfect marriage across the heavens.
No promise of music ordains our kisses.
No cameras zoom to capture
Our love for iconic posters.
There is no guarantee this all works out;
No security proffered by future time.
All on offer is the prospect of work.
Of my commitment to bear the yoke.
Of your steady hand to guide the share.
As we till the ground with backbreaking labor
To plant love amongst the dirt of our lives
Until the day we die when they will say…
We were destined to be together.
Our love was foretold in song.
For the gods blessed our union
And placed our souls
Upon a shooting star.
So frenzied maestros, with our kisses as muse,
Could compose ballads
To bring hope to the world.
And of course it all worked out.
For no love was ever more certain than ours.
Give & Take
Take the good when it comes.
Take the bad when it comes.
Take it easy,
But take it.
Don’t give as good as you get —
Give the good that you get;
Take the bad that you get
And breathe as you let go.
A. B. Clarke 