Is there another way
Where we are no longer plagued by guilt
For the time we must take for ourselves
Or by people who cut corners and sleep well
While we must choose between judgment
Or forgiveness
Know each will fall short of its mark

What I’ve imagined
Is only a dream that can never be true
For there are too many of us
But where we belong
And where we are needed
Is the same place
Yet what is further away
The discovery of our true self
And the peace it promises?
Or the journey around the world
Taking pictures
While we try to forget?

We wait and then our life changes
Nobody can teach us how not to be sad
Because it is sad
It is not something that we should ignore
And we pray for the time to pass
So we can find that place

What we are known for
War
Leisure
Comfort
Power
And we read the ancient words
Written by those who knew of these things
But who died in anguish
As confused as to their fate
As to their birth

We watch people perform
Their actions staged for us
Rehearsed over and over
It all seems so natural
And we escape in amazement
But we cannot rehearse
Our life is improvisation
An artist is given latitude to experiment
We believe in their courage
Yet we are expected to get it right
Every time
Every day
Or else we are judged

And that is where we went
To be judged
To live with it
No matter the good inside of us

I wanted to ride a slow mule
And let it decide where I should go
Could I survive if it chose the wrong direction
Would I have enough water
Would the moon guide us?
Would it make me crazy
Maybe it would be best
The old man nobody talks to
Only trailed by their opinions
Thinking I’m already dead
But they would never know
For the crazy man watches them
He no longer matters to them
So he walks alone
Freely
Watching how you improvise
But still he learns
That is what is crazy
He is old
Yet still he learns

He does not want to die in confusion
He wants instead to die with hope
The hope a mother has for her baby
And he will be ready
For he found what was inside
And he no longer needs to take pictures
For now he can see
Because he decided to look

And he believes what he has found

For it is only to love someone
A humble woman
One who does not think she is pretty
Even if she is
It is not to be better than her
But instead to share your own humilty
For this is how we must wait
Knowing our place
And who better to be by your side
But someone who will wait
Because she taught you how