The world lies with those who bear to change it,
Yet those whom bear idle lie with nothing.
A fool’s young a wise man is old,
Neither bear gold.
Gold doesn’t have to bear glitter,
Silver doesn’t have to sparkle,
But kindness always shines through.

When you are sad,
   you choose to be happy.
When you are poor,
   you choose to be rich.
When you are weak,
   you choose to be strong.
When you are friendless,
   you choose unseen spirits.

When you are not,
   you have no choice but choose.
Any fool can choose,
   and only the strong can fight.
But only the brave and wise,
   surrender and not live a lie.
And when you are dead,
   you cannot choose life.

The Folly of Wisdom
by Michael R. Burch

She is wise in the way that children are wise,
looking at me with such knowing, grave eyes
I must bend down to her to understand.
But she only smiles, and takes my hand.

We are walking somewhere that her feet know to go,
so I smile, and I follow ...

And the years are dark creatures concealed in bright leaves
that flutter above us, and what she believes—
I can almost remember—goes something like this:
the prince is a horned toad, awaiting her kiss.

She wiggles and giggles, and all will be well
if only we find him! The woodpecker’s knell
as he hammers the coffin of some dying tree
that once was a fortress to someone like me

rings wildly above us. Some things that we know
we are meant to forget. Life is a bloodletting, maple-syrup-slow.

Published by Romantics Quarterly, Boston Poetry Magazine, Famous Poets and Poems, Litera, Poetry Life & Times and Freshet

Keywords/Tags: Stoops, folly, wisdom, children, wise, know, knowing, understand, understanding, life, death, grave, years, dark, leaves, trees, prince, toad, kiss, fairytale, coffin, fortress, bloodletting, maple, syrup

Wisely Wise
On the mountain lived a wise person
Nobody called them a witch
Or threatened them with fire at the stake

They knew about plants and herbs
About what to eat and what not
And they could heal with plants

Making food with fruit and vegetables
Including meat and fish when needed
Drinking fresh spring water

Living in a cave near the summit
Close to the ancestors’ souls and graves
Such a timeless place full of life

And answers to all the questions
That one could ask
Go there now...