All the short-lived jobs
Briefly worked,
All the short-term rentals
Briefly lived in,
All the short-felt loves
Briefly treasured,
All the shortened friendships
Briefly trusted,
All the shorted fame
Briefly enjoyed,
All the shortchanged transactions
Briefly suffered,
All the shortcut pathways
Briefly taken,
All the short-haired fashions
Briefly taken on,
All the short-handed environments
Briefly worked in,
All the short-listed opportunities
Briefly savored.
The long-list could go on
And on and on,
Outlining all the things
That I have taken up on.
Life has a way
Of frittering away
Day after lonesome day.
Everything adds up
To only one thing.
Everything is temporary,
So enjoy what life brings.
Don’t fret the short-change.
Wrap your lips around the shortcake.
Don’t break a tooth on the shortbread.
What comes your way,
Chew thoroughly instead.
Hear the rhythms on shortwave.
That roam thru your head.
Beware of shortcuts.
They might leave you dead.
I really appreciate the operative word here: shortcuts. As your poem posits, even though much of our experiences may seem temporary, to approach them as such by attempting to go around the process of experiencing, i.e., consume the icing first in case the cake is taken away. With avoidance of shortcuts, we approach our challenges and "walks in the park" without fear, accepting that to shortcut is to risk learning the lesson. Of course, without lessons learned (regardless of how many times we might repeat an experience to get there) is what it's all about. Thank you for this succinct and entertaining bit of wisdom.
a lovely dynamic presentation which reminds me a galloping racing. That was the reason why the ancients divided their time for the period of 18 min. instead of 60 min. as we do today to make life intensively eventful. Yes, what should be spent should be spent completely, to the last penny; what should not be spent must be preserved zealously. The wise is he who can duly discriminate between these two things. Cheers, alex
The songs and art in this book are about our collective emergence after the pandemic and trauma of the last few years - comprised of 5 collections: World as Refuge, Where We Live, In Our Hands, Rhythms of Change and What We See & Sow.
This is a book of free verse poetry that addresses the seven main tests in life and offers some sensible solutions to passing those tests with minimal discomfort.
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They seem to be above and exempt from the temporary.
Dan