SPECK IN THE DISTANCE

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SPECK IN THE DISTANCE

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A crazy old baboon

Climbed up the tallest tree

Declared himself king of it all

Ruler of all he could see

Hardly anyone listened 

To what he had to say

Then a mighty eagle swooped down

Carried him clean away

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(IN) TANGIBLE

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(IN) TANGIBLE

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Give me a pencil! Give me paper!

Before my thoughts dissolve like vapor

Thoughts float around like waking dreams

Running a program behind the scenes

I don't know what I'm thinking about

Til I write thoughts down. then I find out.

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MID-ME-DLE

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MID-ME-DLE

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There's a lunatic fringe on the left

There's a lunatic fringe on the right

You can tell who they are

Because they are eager to start a big fight

They feel they have been wronged

That the other side is to blame

They hurl threats and insults

They call each other bad names

For all of us in the middle

Those capable of sensible compromise

We want the fences mended

We heed the words of the wise

For the sake of our blood pressures

We need to live and let live

The lunatic fringe demands change

With all take and no give

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FREE FLOATING RESENTMENT

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FREE FLOATING RESENTMENT

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If you put on an itchy sweater in your bedroom

You would feel itchy

If you walked to the kitchen, you would still be itchy

The living room - itchy

The front stoop - itchy

Because the problem is not the bedroom, nor the kitchen

Living room or stoop

The problem is the itchy sweater 

Knitted from the yarn of abuse and neglect

Until you remove the itchy sweater

The problem will persist

Resentment is like that maddeningly itchy sweater

If you are in a relationship - resentment appears

If you are alone - resentment

Unemployed - resentment, employed - resentment

Free floating resentment will attach itself like a leech

To whatever situation presents itself

The problem is always the resentment

There is only one cure for this resentment

Humility

Humility is the realization that nothing is perfect

No one is perfect, no situation is ideal

These imperfections are a fact of life

Humility recognizes that perfection is impossible

But we can do our best to have a good attitude 

Make our lives better any small ways we can

Humility is recognizing that the resentment is within us

And that is where resentment must be neutralized

With humility

The path of humility is the path of peace 

The only path out of suffering when we journey into the calm optimism

Of the humble explorer on a new day

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MY GOOD DAY

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MY GOOD DAY

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An online search can answer many questions

"How many popes were named Leo?"

"Where do sycamores grow?"

However, some questions only I can answer

So if I want to think about having a good day

Only I can define the ingredients

"What does that look like? What would a good day consist of?"

The more richly detailed my answer

The clearer the mental picture

Of my good day

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LAST LIGHT

 

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LAST LIGHT

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I hope he has a moment of clarity

As the sand in his hourglass runs out

And in this moment of clarity

He sees the life he could have had

The good he could have done

The lives he could have changed for the better

I hope he sees the wreckage in his wake

The broken and ruined tributes 

To an ego clothed in lust and greed

I hope he fully realizes that money and power

Will never fill the place of love and kindness

The light of understanding calls him home

But here, here, he will not be missed at all

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HINDSIGHT

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HINDSIGHT 

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CRACK!  

In the wind and the rain

A tall and mighty pine tree broke

The top of the tree came down  

With a crash that shook the ground 

It fell in two different directions 

Fallen, never to rise again

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Many years ago the tree top divided in two

Bifurcated

Perhaps to gain an advantage 

By absorbing twice as much sunlight

Beating the rivals that crowded in to compete

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But now it becomes apparent, obvious

All these years later

That the strategy of splitting in two 

Created a vulnerability 

That led to the death of the majestic tree 

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It was just a matter of time and the right storm 

To bring about its fatal and dramatic end.

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