Simple, wrong solution

There’s one thing worse than a problem with no solution –
There could always be a simple, wrong solution.

We know not to go grabbing strangers on the street,
But when someone’s already holding your hand,
Nobody teaches you the effort of not curling your fingers in
And clinging to that unexpected lifeline.
Nobody tells you about the pain
Of drowning, mouth closed, while dying of thirst.
Nobody quite understands, until they suddenly do,
How it is to have no refuge from the darkness.
You go running in your house and barricade the door;
It’s not quite that my problem already lives inside,
But that I have to open the door and invite it in
Day, after day, after day.
And I’m not sure if I’m instead waving my sanity goodbye,
But I guess that only leaves more space for guests
So won’t you join us for dinner?

Brown – Blue

Brown like the ground underneath,
Maybe the spots like raindrops
Unstuck the files of its wings
So it could open the secrets
Of the skies and the seas.
Overlooked so easily,
It only catches the eye
When it dances in pairs,
Two otherworldly spots,
So bright they dim the edges
Of the cage and the street.
It’s a good thing its blue
Is airy enough to remind
Of the deep breath you lost
When you first saw your soul
Reflected in its mirrors.

I used to draw eyes

I used to draw eyes.

 

Things beautiful and bright,

Made of shadow and light,

Some obscured, full of tears,

Rounded by surprise or by fears.

 

Maybe I needed someone to cry for me,

Or maybe I needed other eyes to see,

To give me a different perspective,

Or to see me, something reflective.

 

I used to draw eyes.

 

And then, one day, I just stopped.

No more of those eyes popped.

Maybe I finally saw what they’ve shown,

Or maybe, just maybe, I learnt to use my own.

Ideal self

The ideal person you wish to be,
That perfect image you’re aiming for,
What if part of you is already free
And you are that deep in your core?
We’re afraid to do what we want,
Or idle in front of the change,
And it remains merely a taunt,
There, but still out of range.
But if we know we’re already that,
We’re less scared of losing the way.
We know where we want to get at,
And the path on which we should stay.
So think of things that better you
Instead of unexpected evolutions,
As things that bring out your true
And keep looking for solutions.

Break, broke, broken

Go on, break something already broken,

Dance on the crumbles, singing, if you will.

It makes little difference. Slightly more work

To hold and put together again.

But it’s the first crack that changes the stautus,

The first blemish between damaged and whole.

There’s a next step, destroyed, not just broken

But you’re a long way from having that force.

So go on, try to break something broken,

And leave the pure, whole things be.

Abyss

I’ve lain down to watch
The abyss from above us
Till it flipped beneath.

Dark side of the world

A dark and a light, a good and a bad,
Are they the same or a different dyad?
It’s the first thing you thought, isn’t it?
That it’s the bad, the evil, the odd and misfit.
But think about the dark side of the moon.
Once it’s far, about that unrelated balloon
We know it means just the mystery, hidden,
With no judgment attached to make it forbidden.
What if we turned other things around too,
Changed the perspective to give us a clue?
Maybe the things we so often despise
Look quite a bit different seen through the eyes
That are used to darkness and all of its shades,
And we may finally stop our crusades.
Don’t mistake one contrast for the next,
It just gives ignorance an easy pretext.

No past

It’s always past, present and future.
We insist on this delimitation,
And get caught up in its tangles.
Do we realize, I wonder,
That this is not its natural state?
There are no true records of the past.
Our brains themselves can’t do it,
Can’t bring forth a snapshot of a memory.
Time is information, in a fluid state,
And what has happened before influences
What we know and let happen next.
And the more we know, the more different
We will perceive what has once been.
Once something is done, you can’t undo it,
Can’t return, or understand anymore
The state you had before it all.
Like time travel. If it works,
It will only ever be in one way.
And yet we get so hung up on the past,
Do so many things for the glory of it,
Sacrifice so much to recapture it.
Do so few of us understand it is gone,
The stepping stones turning to water
Once they have delivered you to the next?

Game of speed

Do not worry for gods, legends and immortals,
For you do things they never possibly could.
It’s nothing, fighting wars and ruling nations
When you have a thousand tries of each.
Finding peace and enlightenment is easier
When you have a whole century to err,
A decade to mourn, years to wander, lost,
And time on top to despair, to wail, and slowly
To relearn how to drag yourself to your feet.
We, humans, are not that. We have minutes
For things our heroes spend lifetimes on,
Before we have to plow ahead and do our miracles.
It’s not a game of greatness for us, never been,
It’s a game of speed. The worthy among us
Are the ones who dust themselves off quickest
After their falls, and whose luck holds firmest
To keep them stumbling but still on two feet.
We fear the failures, but they don’t matter
In the short, short spans that we all have,
It just matters keeping hold of your tickets
On this mad ride on the life’s carousel.

Three days, three quotes – day 3

This is the last day of the ‘Three days, three quotes’ challenge, to which I was nominated by herSCREAMINGshadows. Thank you a lot for thinking of me!

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days.
3. Nominate three other bloggers each day.

The Third Quote:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Luke 6:31)

And a little something inspired by it:

When fingers scratch upon slick walls,
Gaining no shadow of purchase,
When muscles strain to lift you up
Against a force too great,
Instead of helping yourself up,
Choose to give your mates a push.
I imagine a world surrounded
By a link of people holding hands,
Pushing, pulling, dragging,
However the case might require
Someone other than themselves,
An uninterrupted chain stretching
All the way back to the person
Who started the first act of kindness.
You may be against religion,
You may be against philosophies,
But in the folds of them all,
Stripped from all pretenses,
Hides the same piece of common sense.
We are all equal. To behave right,
Just put yourself in another’s shoes,
And treat your fellows the way
You’d need them to treat you.
You’re extending yourself a hand,
And pulling yourself straight up.
You just go the long way around,
And pass through other hands first.

 

I had a bit of a shock looking for this quote today. I found it in various phrasings, but they all attribute it to the same source: the Bible. I had absolutely no idea. I’m not a religious person, but this particular piece of advice is perhaps the principle on which I try to base the greatest part of my behaviour in interpersonal situations, and has been for years. It was an interesting discovery, and thank you again herSCREAMINGshadows for giving me this challenge for the opportunity to find this out (and all of you guys for reading my blog so I have someone to share it with).

Even though I still won’t make any nominations for the challenge, you guys should definitely give it a try! Who knows what you might discover 🙂