(writer’s note, this week’s poems 10/16-22/2022 are intended to be consumed as a series and will be presented in that order. I hope you enjoy them.)

You will laugh a little,
You will cry a little,
You will want to live a little,
You will want to die a little,
You’ll want to kill a little,
You will wait to maim a little,
You will want to end your life a little,
You will want to scream a little,
You will want to not utter a single solitary sound, a little.

When it is all said and done
When it is over,
When the guide is revealed,
When your resolved has steeled,
When your fractures have been resealed,
When their choices shaped the life,
Upon your strife they have built their glee,

Good neighbors build a fence,
This life has been lived
Not in the present, nor the future but, rather the past tense.
The quality of the virtue of mercy is not strained.
However, the quality of forgiveness is.
The quality of acceptance is.
For all the belief, faith, hope, charity, and prayer, could not reveal.
For all the belief, faith, hope, charity, and prayer, could not grant.
For all the belief, faith, hope, charity, and prayer, could not conseal.
For all the belief, faith, hope, charity, and prayer, could not complete.

…A deal I did not make
…And ascention to a virtue or reverence I cannot claim a stake.
…A memory of a time of friendship, relationships, Compassion ship, companionship…

For if that’s “love” – a love for me, a respect for me – a the musical said: Well, It came at much too high a cost.

I hope you are happy. and have been since the day you first chose this.

I guess, you, dear audience, will finally decide. Those words haunt me and will do so for the remainder of my days.

As for the darkness or the light winning – neither win. That’s how the universe intended, all things in balance. With equal time of light and equal time of dark.

That’s the cruelest of jokes, I guess. Does anyone actually feel like they won?