History they sometimes say,
Doesn't repeat, but nay,
It rhymes and reminds,
and sometimes chimes.

[gong]

I can look back now and know
that I confused love with the flow
of life and parenthood and family
as Zorba said, the whole catastrophe!

[long gong]

There was caring and sharing
but life was so unsparing
The dings and dents of life
Did not soften but increased strife.

[wrong gong]

The kids' braces, the cars' repairs, the house
caused resentment in the spouse
And I was grasping at a solution
for what I thought should be the resolution.

[sad song]

Trying too hard for what is not
Can carry your soul into a spot
Where what life is becomes a chore
Rather than the secret to more.

[gong]

And so with my new ode
I think I've found the code.
The challenges are not to be resolved
for living is itself so involved.

[gong]

Each challenge or task
Is an echo of the ask
That life has in its incarnation
to feel and understand the demarcation.

[gong]

So as you go through time
Pay attention to the rhyme
For the small and tiresome tasks
can be brushstrokes for what lacks.

[gong]

And when it's time make a new edition
You'll be enriched by all the addition
Of lessons you learned while living
that the world is giving.

[belong]