Hopefully the Interlude

Our paths had crossed and passed each other
But they had not be-come confused
They were paths leading to some home
They had places to go, they knew where

The starlings migrated as the geese
But one didn’t nest with the other
The caves, though close, had separate water streams
And evolution didn’t share its differences

While the stream chattered
And while the rocks were massaged gently by its progress
While the shared toil was enriching
The stream did not fizz

And yet those flying herbs and spices brought down the mask of ignorance
With stretched wings the paths merged temporarily
For a while, Harris’ Lament was forgot and
Lovers were made of this goose and starling

It’s not true that emotions can be kept separate
As the caves merged at the surface, they merged beneath
Ovums in the nest were large and small
“If only” he said

As I sit, pondering the Lament and the Pilgrim
As I burn as though I’ve boiling water in my heart
And as I ache and weep and cry
I hope the tale’s ending is yet to come

Self-aware

For the tunnel dwellers, the outside world isn’t a mystery: they don’t know it exists
They don’t look in mental mirrors and they don’t meditate upon themselves
Perhaps they are less vain, or really do not care
But they are liberated by their narrow field of view

For those of us on the open plain, there are predators everywhere
The choice of fur is telling and the lion’s opinion matters
When in a herd we are cautious and fertive even as we’re confident
And when alone, standing proud and sure, there’s still that we are watched

Some people wander through life unaware that they are annoying,
Unaware that they are crass, repetitive or foolish, some people don’t know how others see them,
Are not told by friends, their beat is out of sync; but they are the lucky ones,
For they are not burdened by this awareness, they are not weighed down by its millstone weight

Job interviews, first dates, plays, musicals and operas
The victim in these scenarios are the self-aware
And the failures are often not
Thick skinned you say? It’s a better defence against that lion than you could know.