Inside Out: In Memoriam

Might success be failure
turned inside out
a paradigm shift
where lessons learned
come by way of purging waste

Might the cliché
one person’s victory
becomes another’s defeat
merely represent the preferred paradigm choice
allowing right to exist
only by virtue of the wrong

Might paradox
allow truth
time’s digestion
lesson’s acid of norm
determining alone
the save
the discard

Might we learn
to embrace both compost
and the bloom
the stench of rancid
and the perfume of blossoms

For lest we forget

Everyday
whether by country lane
or urban alley
flowers need but a foundation crack
to reach skyward
knowing both the warmth of sun
and the drenching cold of rain
remains a dyad of purpose

Exposure informs
often revealing man’s failure
to see the flower’s veracity
oblivious that outside behavior
reflects inside character

Such was the goal
the essence
of one man’s lifetime of inquiry

We’ll miss you, Mr. Wallace