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]