It's all situationalship ,
being in or out
down or up
in love or not
Like a metronome
we swing back and forth
from love to hate
But like a swing
is there a point
we don't enjoy the motion ?
And what is that pause ,
that force ,
when induced
makes us
turn our backs and swing back again
One must ask and answer
what becomes of us
once the motion stops
as we turn
to walk away

I can't reopen this letter
covered with the dust of time
among my hundreds of old books-
reading it would only make me sadder-

the rose that's withered
can't be remade anew
each flight of the bird
can't be repeated as it flew-

how I wished I were kinder
ready to spare and forgive
despite my every effort
I couldn't in my bitter grief-

now a desolate old man
my lonely tears offer no relief-
life and time wait for none
once fled-  lost is every living gift.

There's no real escape
the knot can't be severed
wedded to life and its singular thread
happy, sad, wise or absurd-

how the wheels do turn
each different in oscillation
one is caught in dizziness
dazed in total confusion

but none has any power
the nexus to untangle
though it's tried
from any angle-

ah, the angst of being born
to live in the inevitable
despite the most sombre landscape
one has to face the most unendurable

The moors are sombre and dark
as though my heart's weariness they bear
melancholic is the moon,  even more the stars
the foreboding  mood pervades everywhere

I am lost in longing and reverie
where has love fled?  What has it to declare?
Is life but a lie?  Is hope in denial?
What's right? What's fair?

Through the rain-stained window I gaze
not a shimmer of light anywhere
only the haunting cry of a birdsong
and the sighs of winds in the eerie air-

sleep will elude me tonight
I'll be laden with my unrelenting care
destiny is not of my choice or call
my brokenness I'll still need to wear.

Time closes in mindlessly
but my heart isn't oppressed
its powers I scoff vehemently
in my self-sufficiency I rest--

though there's thick mist in the horizon
my path I'll boldly chart
adversity shall not hold me in prison
from fervent faith I'll not part-

life is the lacuna
and the indifference
it offers no anchor
in its nonchalance -

its sea might be stormy and rough
and my sailing might be perilously tough
but my courage will be enough
to lead me to the faraway shore that I've desired