Recovery

National Cathedral

I’m in recovery.
I sat down to write a poem about the injuries I’ve sustained,
Both the physical and the mental,
How they slow me down and hamper me,
From being what I once was.
But halfway through I wrote it anew,
For the aches and pains I carry,
Are the marks of a life well-lived.
I wanted to give my scars special meaning,
But I’m not sure that much is true.
My limp and my aches are constant reminders,
Of the miles I’ve covered,
And the victories and losses,
But mostly they are ghostlike memories,
Now etched forever into my being.

Cadence

Gate to Seoul

I understand the rhythm of my life,
How to call it on the left foot,
And keep everyone moving forward,
Together, in formation;
How to arraign actions in time and space,
Achieving strategic ends.
But I often miss that my closest companions,
Hear a cadence of their own,
Different beats based on their own motivations,
Seeking their own outcomes,
Solving the tactical problems of the day with no concern for strategy.
While I am calling a march cadence, they are moving double-time.
Sometimes we march, sometimes we dance,
Never in step, always together.

Aurora

Endless Road

The morning process

Of making the coffee.

Sitting in darkness

Waiting for the moments

Of calm.

Dark black moments

Where I sip

On calmness.

Then listen again

To cat crys

And see again

The new dawn.

 

Contemplation

Gate to Seoul

Thinking about thinking
I ponder the imponderable
What capacity has mankind for acts of inhumanity
What capacity has mankind for acts of human kindness
What capacity has mankind for evolving into greatness
And perhaps in the process changing the universe
If we can get past the Great Filter without destroying ourselves in the process
If we can get past tribalism and be who we are called by the universe to be
Thinking about thinking
I revel in the philosophy of Dunning and Kruger
And I worry about the Mount from which I sit and ponder