poem of the day 05.05.11

you cannot be

you cannot be
an artist all of the time
it’s impossible
artists are such drags anyway
you cannot be
a poet all of the time
without running out of words
sometimes it is good
to sit and watch the rain
you cannot be
a musician all of the time
especially when the songs dry up
you cannot be a politician
if you still believe in reason and logic
you cannot be a dancer
without feeling like a fool
you cannot be decent
without hurting someone
you cannot be
human all of the time
for there are forests out there
that do not contain a sound or a soul
and the hunger to go there
is too rich
it is too hard being human
all of the time
a little bit like a job
and you cannot be
at your job all of the time
or you would go mad
you cannot be a painter
when the paint crumbles on the canvas
you cannot be a fireman
in all of this concrete and wire
and you cannot be a god
because it’s such a thankless job
and i won’t let you do it
you cannot be a world traveler
because the planet is simply
not big enough to hold
your attention for that long
you cannot be an actor
because you have dignity
or a cop
because you have empathy
in your heart
you cannot be a famous chef
not everyone can cook
you cannot be a philosopher
without being willing to drink
the hemlock
you cannot be gracious or humble
in a world like this
you cannot be youthful
when you own a calendar
you cannot be an editor
because a real editor would’ve
stopped reading this poem
twenty lines ago
and moved on to the next one
and you cannot be
sad about that fact
because you and i
have reached the end of this together
my friend
and we cannot be
anything
it seems
except ourselves.