Makeup

When I fall behind
Where I want to be
I put it out of mind
Since it bothers me
But then I'm bothered by
The fact that I am not -
By paradox, then, I
Retain what I have got
Despite my best attempts
At putting it away
For nothing else exempts
My mind from making hay
Save making up whatever
I told myself I'd never.

Must

I am never certain
Just what I must do
To pull away the curtain
And see the world as true.
Must I simply sit
And think about the past
Or venture forth to it
And say the die is cast?
Must I ever after
Cogitate and groan,
Or fill the world with laughter
(Should it be my own?)?
I cannot tell, so I
Just let the world pass by.

List Release

Something electric seems to fill the air
We all can feel it; in this tiny space
Reverberating with the cries that share
A hopeless hope of being heard, we trace
Our loyalties with every breath, and scream
Our spirits into being. As one soul
One voice, one heart, one common mind each team
Becomes a supercession of the whole,
More than its parts, more than they all could make,
More than the best they all could be together
Somewhere above it all the team will take
Its flight beyond the merely earthly tether
Of possibility, and so become
The exponent of our communal sum.

Probably Not

Are there enough hours

In a simple, pleasant day

To smell all of the flowers

You pass along the way?

Can there ever be

Sufficient time to tell

Every good story

And tell each of them well?

Will there ever come

A day of such content

That all the busy hum

Of men at last is spent?

I cannot answer these

But I can ask them: please?

TV

Watching TV with you
Across the internet
Is what I like to do
When I cannot forget
That we two have been set
So far apart that we
Cannot, despite us, get
Together easily
And so, because for me
It's better with you here
I watch the same TV
So that we two can share
The same experience
Despite that you are hence.

If

If God is a whisper in the soul
Niggling at that unholiness
That finds its place within the whole
But by existing makes us less;
If God is a wind within the mind
Pressing against the inner faults
That by true searching we would find
But each of which our best assaults;
If God is a tickle in the gut
Lurching because we wrong our own,
Refusing to settle while we shut
Out the sound of another's groan
Then we should listen, hear, and feel
That part of us beyond the real.

Doubt

Doubt exists. I cannot doubt that fact.
But in its very certainty there lies
A paradox, to which I must react
With doubt - which means the paradox then dies.
But in its death, there should be certainty
And that reanimates it once again;
How can a thing by being cease to be
And what am I to do about it then?
It's fortunate that doubt is not alone
And therefore I can doubt some other point
For should I live in such a monotone
I would by Schrodinger be out of joint
For as observer, I would always see
The half-chance of my ceasing to be me.

Prayer

Everything must have a breaking point
But let, O God, my own be very high;
There's somewhere everything is out of joint
But let it not be anywhere nearby.
All ages pass from earth, all men must die
But place the day of passage far away;
The sun will pass forever from the sky,
But let us never near that final day.
All light must cease, and fade to black from grey
But may the colors still be with us yet;
The mind of every man is led astray
But let us now forgive that and forget.
Be merciful, and let this life go on
Although our bank of joy be overdrawn.

Barometer

The changing weather only serves
To make me think of missing you
No matter how it ducks or swerves
I find my thoughts ever renew
Their focus on how, in this weather
I'd want to cuddle by your side
Or how we would be best together
When it's this temperature outside
No matter if the lake may freeze
Or boil from excessive heat
I know whatever the degrees
I find your presence is so sweet
It can improve the worst and best
And optimizes all the rest.

Greet

I noticed recently
Along the way, we meet
So many people we
Despite ourselves won't greet
When seen upon the street
Or run into elsewhere;
It's such a simple feat
To act as if we care
Say just 'I know you're there
Another human mind'
And in that greeting share
The pleasure that we find
In recognition. But
It seems so weird. So what?