I smile
     when I do not know what to say
I smile
     when I do not know what is happening
I smile
     when I am expected to do so
I smile
     when I do know that I am in trouble
I smile
     when I do not want to lie
I smile
     *because it is better way to deal than to cry

I remember sitting on the dock
in the summer.
The sky was too deep for stars.
Gentle lightning struck the mountains beyond
the lake, shadowing
out every stress of my existence
with pure energy.
I have no wisdom from those moments.
I remember only the peace of floating idly.

There was no need for thunder.
There was no need for rippling in the water.
There was no need for the distant calls of the loons.
There was only the simple silence
and my brain’s imagination of the chaotic show
that may or may not come.

The world outside me had fallen into
an infinite vastness
between each distant fractal of light.

I am not a religious person.
I don’t believe in God,
and I think divinity is subjective.

But I’ve always believed in the entropy of nature
as it delicately chooses leaves
to twirl in a pending storm
like a quantum fate.

Shiny flask full of fun,
Shall I fill it with whiskey or ***
Wanting only to refresh my day,
Maybe with coconut from Parrot Bay?

After all, it's my best drinking buddy
That always makes me witty and funny
With never a shout, cry or pout,
That is, until the whiskey has run out!