YES AND NO
By John Herlihy

1
Yes means affirmation,
No means negation.
Yes leads to confirmation
No leads to defamation

2
Truth initiates yes and no,
Knowledge informs yes and no.
Wisdom inspires yes and no,
Virtue illuminates yes and no.

3
Yes sometimes means no,
No sometimes means yes.
Yes, yes, yes, but no.
No, no, no, but yes.

4
Yes when we mean no;
No when we mean yes;
Yes when we don’t know;
No when we just guess.

5
Yes to go with the flow,
No when you are stuck in snow.
Yes when you are on fire,
No to being a spare tire.

6
Yes when we have desire;
No when stuck in the mire;
Yes when we are on hire;
No when our straights are dire.

7
Yes to all I aspire;
No to all I despise
Yes to those who inspire;
No to those with evil eyes

8
Yes to the mystery of eternity.
No to the arrow of time.
Yes to the wings of angels,
No to the horns of devils.

9
Yes to truth,
No to falsehood.
Yes to knowledge,
No to facts.

11
Yes builds mountains,
No takes them apart.
Yes spurts water out of fountains,
No dries them up from the start.

12
The eyes say yes,
The mouth says no.
The heart says yes,
The mind says no.

13
In the heart of Islam,
Beats the No and Yes of witnessing.
No to the spirit of the world,
Yes to the world of the Spirit.

14
These are the fluctuations,
Of an indecisive mind.
These are the two foundations,
That motivate human kind.