Conflicted Orison
Keep pessimism away from children.
No nihilism before high school… please!
Pretend optimism reflects reality best,
embodies good sense even if untrue.
Life is not just difficult but impossible.
Our destiny unknowable, now and forever.
We exist in ignorance mind, body and soul.
Hope for heaven, prepare for hell… or accept
whatever nothingness we think the beyond may be.
Human understanding was not constructed to
fully comprehend the immaterial.
Wonder contains inherent limitations.
The why of the bright side is undeniable:
kisses, summer, cupcakes, daisies, sky
— all those songs to sing –
how joy is shared, how pleasure feels
watching her eyes first see yours;
the many though vastly
outnumbered things of this world
surely to be missed or
at least compensated for
in the next.
What besides love do we desire most?
Confidence and competence – without
which love can barely survive. All work,
despised as oppression – but working, the act
of completing if not completion – beloved, beholden.
Nothing in this life now more vital.
Talent is only being who we are,
ways to find new capabilities.
Those not needing a job
whose money makes money
they imprison us all
in this pit of want.
If we need an enemy in what
we agree is the temporary
let’s identify who
Is guilty and why.
We know what is life;
yes… life itself!
Flesh and blood
hunger and sex
yearning and satiation
the finite beats
in your heart.
How can biology have any
meaning other than the factual
without personal morality
or infinite justice?
Laws, philosophies, customs
collective preferences, best practices
text me the link later
there’s only you and me here.
Who cares if we’ve forgotten already
or speak softly or loudly
stay significant or become obsolete.
At least we are now
known to each other.
Why ignore simple facts.
The knowledge of unavoidable demise,
informs every moment except
every other moment when
we remember the happiness
of childhood: unable or unwilling
to ask life the question of death.
Because it’s not just you.
Other critical truths
immediately apparent:
No answer forthcoming.
No place to escape.
Trust in science, depend on luck.
The revelation of the unknowable
but inevitable and eternal never
inspires faith and doubt
– conviction and fear –
the only rational response is
bright side insistence
when children are present.
However illusory or disposable
preserve hope no matter the cost.
Copyright 2018/Held by Author