-- The Bitter Side of Sweet --

John Herlihy

Look closely and you will surely see,

How to escape from the jaws of defeat.

Listen carefully and you will surely agree,

This world on the bitter side of sweet.

Reckon precisely and you will learn;

How to make right from a terrible wrong.

Light a fire expertly and you will burn,

All the roughage that doesn’t belong.

Avoid the evils that will make you impure;

Do for yourself what no one else can do.

Seek the knowledge of certainty to be sure;

Know the things that no one else ever knew.

Ready your mind so that you may come to feel,

Touched by the happy side of a lingering sorrow.

Open your soul with nothing further to conceal,

Always blessed by the sure arrival of tomorrow.

No harsh affliction will ever on us be bestowed

That a person cannot properly come to bear.

Free yourself of any baggage unduly towed;

Make your way through life as a form of prayer.

Awaken to a life standing in the face of death;

Knowledge of the end gives more meaning to life.

Fill the body with the enlivening spirit of the breath,

Lending sweet rhythms to the day of a melodic fife.

At eventide, lay your head on the pillow and be content;

Accept with gratitude the inevitable bitter side of sweet.

Life will eventually end up as a destiny that was meant;

Truth, beauty, and bliss will serve as a reward complete.

- - - - - -

Copyright © John Herlihy

Monday 1 March 2021