-- Imagination and Illusion --

John Herlihy

The two c’s for cowardice and courage,

Opposites to balance in different ways.

They live within us brothers in suffrage,

Fill our heartbeats and spaces for days.

The two e’s for our envy as an emotion,

As wide varieties of emotion fill our cup.

Envy but a minor concern in a vast ocean,

Looking askance at others, we gladly sup.

The two d’s of our dreams and despair,

Moody realms with brooding emotion.

Despair a deep hole, our dreams prayer,

Each entangled in a web we have woven

The b’s of nature’s beauty and our bliss,

Fabric interwoven with threads of light.

The horizon where heaven and earth kiss,

To witness dawn and the twilight of night.

The two I’s of our imagination and illusion,

Often are intertwined in a parallel profile.

One bestirs us, the other seeks confusion,

These two I’s have their own unique style.

Imagination inspires all mystery to unveil,

Visions bring breath of fresh air to the mind.

Our illusions our sense of truthfulness assail,

Bring shadowy fictions our hopes to unwind.

Imagination and illusion wear a double face,

As phantoms of truth and realities of error.

Imagination paints pictures, illusions only trace,

Falsehoods that do prey on our fear and terror.

We can’t live without imagination’s subtle glance,

Enriching us in ways not otherwise to imagine.

Our illusions have us sleepwalking as in a trance,

Turning falsehoods into realities we never fathom.

To say life but an illusion doesn’t mean it’s unreal,

It only means that it is not what it seems to be.

Imagination spins a magic that makes things real,

Just imagining gives us the power the unseen to see.

Reject all your fake illusions as a form of reprimand,

Belief in their efficacy will leave hope in the mire.

Embrace your imagination and take it by the hand,

Vistas will open before you your dreams to inspire.

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(c) John Herlihy 15 April 2020