-- The Wealth of Emotions --

by John Herlihy

How specific arrive the emotions in their full intent;

So specific, we always know what they truly meant.

How fleeting are the emotions as they come and go;

Here today, gone tomorrow, we never really know.

Anger raises its ugly head, shouting to attack, attack;

We fling the anger away hoping it never comes back.

Angry at family, at the world, at God, at everything;

Until we be drained of all sentiment, left with nothing.

Our well source, freed of anger, now filled with regret;

Loss of control, expansion of limits, we wish to forget.

Loss of our true self that we desperately wish to uphold;

Expansion of our rightful limits that gradually take hold.

The vengeance of sweet revenge that builds in our breast;

Like starving birdlings with hungry mouths in their nests.

Having been wronged, how our vengeance needs to be fed;

How the insistent call of vengeance feels like being bled.

Even our happiness that arrives as a simple sense of joy;

Brings with it a temporary feeling that seems like a ploy.

Fostering feelings of well-being our tender hearts to tempt;

But when happiness takes its leave, our hearts feel spent.

Then the morbid sentiment hovering as potential sorrow;

To cloud light of days, whether it be today or tomorrow.

A painful failure, loss of hope, sudden death and its shroud;

To enter the dim cavern of our hearts as a darkening cloud.

Let us not forget all the hatred we cannot leave behind,

Like blood-sucking vampires, as stalking ghouls of the mind.

Sleepless ghosts inspiring further wrong and to no avail,

Writing signatures in our wakeful moments, minds to assail.

The list ever goes onward, but we must bring it to a close,

With love, the most painful emotion, as everyone knows.

The hollow beating of an empty heart needs to be filled,

The longing, rush, surge, and loss all need to be stilled.

The list of our emotions goes on and bears repeating,

Arrive on the scene with their moment, ever fleeting.

Their intent untaught, instinctive, with special acumen,

Revealing us for the people we are, as all too human.

Whoever said to err is human and to forgive is divine,

Never knew the wealth of sentiments I call truly mine.

The negative emotions, by proxy, enlighten us by stealth;

Intimacies of our emotions reveal truth in their wealth.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Tuesday 17 October 2023