Friday, December 1, 2017

day THREE HUNDRED and SIXTEEN

People Who Mean Well

People who mean well,
they'll try and tell you things
like, do whatever it is
you are meant to do.

I imagine whatever these people
are meant to do lets them
sleep at night,
or at least pays the rent.

I guess they don't think much about
what happens if what you're meant to do
leaves you lost and broken in some
hotel on Geary Street,

half insane
in some tiny room,
too far gone to cry.

These same people will tell you things
like, life never gives you more
than you can handle,

while every day I step outside
into a world of people who were given
more than they can handle;

you can hear it in their voices,
you can see it in their eyes
and the way their hands shake.

Another thing people will tell you
is that death is necessary
in order to give meaning to life,

but I've yet to see a death
that's given meaning
to anything at all,
not even death.

And if they really believed it
they wouldn't have invented god.

They can have their death.

Me, I could wake into this mess of beauty
and terror again and again, for eternity,

even though it's far more than I can handle
and I have no idea what I was meant to do.

--William Taylor Jr.

No comments: