-- Things as They Are --

John Herlihy

Why do we always think

In terms of right and wrong.

Aren’t our eye blinks just a blink?

Things sing their own song.

Accepting things are they are

May make a person feel better.

Wondrous message of a distant star,

As if receiving an unexpected letter.

Even those things that make us sad,

Some fateful reality that has occurred.

Can they be identified as good or bad,

While making our tearful eyes blurred.

As for those things that bring us joy,

A fleeting emotion we will soon miss.

It is what it truly is, a kind of toy,

Letting us down in promising bliss.

Those fireflies do live in bliss,

Nothing they do is ever wrong.

In their world, nothing is amiss,

Only the wish their life to prolong.

Smells, for example, uniquely give,

The smell as memory in our hearts.

To beautify things thru life’s sieve,

Lingering for a while until it departs.

Being lonely makes us feel hurt,

Even in the middle of a crowd.

Yet such feelings can make us alert,

Things being what they are is allowed.

If a friend reveals an inmost secret,

Neither right nor wrong, just a fact.

The trust implied feels almost perfect,

With promise in the enduring tact.

A little bit of goodness lies in everything,

Even if it is not always seen.

A little bit of badness lies in everything,

Even if not intended to be mean.

To see things as they are, not as we are,

Self-contained in their own true world.

To remain detached, viewed from afar,

While things as they are before us whirl.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Friday 7 May 2021