Between knowledge
     and morality
     the latter
     I choose  readily

I'm deadly serious
about not being serious

Look and if you wish
smell the radiant rose
don't you snap or shake it-
it's too fragile and delicate
or its fragrance and beauty
will come to a close

how patiently and how long
it has waited to pose
itself to show
and please the world-
let's listen to its tender plea
and allow it to blow-

in its short allotted time
it does sadly know
after the end of summer
its days will be over-

as its last petals fall
none of us will see
its tears that are within
each , concealed and enclosed

The day fades away
but it's not in a state
of loss or decay

every moment of it
has been absorbed
into life's intricate web
and within it will stay

to be retrieved by those
who have been part
of that tapestry
sometime, somewhere

and I all alone in watching
the faint daylight flitting away
in time amazed and transfixed
am in the same pageantry and display
but can't find the right words to say.

Mirror, mirror on the wall
am I handsome at all?
If you say  yes, I'll be delighted
if you say no, I'll not be disappointed

for I really can't gauge my look
though some pretty women each do book
me as their chaperon in some outgoing
and bribe me with their sweetest whispering-

never once did I ask
about their marital status
my poems they read passionately
and wrote to me secretly and romantically-

mirror, mirror on the wall
if you do understand me at all
why don't you say yes readily
such that I'd know my life has been lived so abundantly?

This I dare declare
    the pauper could be happier
    than the billionaire -
    he has no care

Between knowledge
and morality
the latter
I choose readily