Does It Matter?

July 4

Does it feel this way for everyone?
This darkness, this temptation, to look away,
to step away, from a silent fire.
I have been burned.
I am vulnerable.
I am afraid of speaking out.
I hold these heavy thoughts back from others (don’t they have their own concerns).
What do I keep away from myself?
Does it matter?
Couldn’t I simply amuse myself
with lighter thoughts, or gentle distractions – wouldn’t golf become
a more useful game – where the object, intent, and goal is so simple?
Who am I to think my purpose or intention is more important, or
I am simply missing the point?
I am hurting.
Am I ignoring the hurt?
My eyelids are heavy;
is it from seeing too much, or is it from trying
to keep them shut?

cloud songs

 Above us
                                     open spaces.
                                       Limitations
              still.
                                     Voices carry
                                                      so far
                                                      you wonder.
                     Imagination,
                  not always truthful,
                  not always clear.
   Desire for something greater.
          Unchecked expectations,
          how can you know
                   where
                             you are?
      Shadows simply
        shade the past.
What illuminates your future?
Little by little
          infinite increments
          of
               your self,
                                of
              your soul
                              swallowed up in darkness,
                                  awaiting broad daylight.

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January 13

another way

Like everybody else, I exist
in the now. Where I have been
does not indicate where I will go,
and all I have known will be
a portion of all that I know.
Yet, all that is there is subject to
change. My terms and conditions
will, no doubt, be rearranged
to accommodate fears, and folly,
and facts still uncertain, as I
realize or discover my potential
inertia. Matter it is, matter
it does. I am not yesterday, nor
am I today. Tomorrow is
simply another way. Time will
not determine where I will go, or
whether I stay. Who I am now
is not all you need know, anyway.
I am more than I thought;
I am all I am not.

© 2018 j.g. lewis

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January 22

have the strength

Aches and pains
from another day: physical,
psychological, anything but
understandable.

Or avoidable.
It all gets in the way.

We all hurt. We all heal,
by and by, in our own time
exercising empathy with others,
as much as ourselves.

Compassion.
Understanding.

We can only try,
we can only do what we
have the strength for
today, or any other day.

We grieve, if need be.
We all hurt. We will all heal.

We just don’t know when
or why or how to
deal with everyday
aches and pains.

01/22/2024 j.g.l.

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January 19

it’s time

I think we overlook the
obvious, and underthink
the truth.
We spend so much time
wanting to believe that
we fail to notice we
already do.
But it’s when we put off
what is necessary
because we think it will
happen on its own,
that we should truly
go ahead and do what
needs to be done.
It’s time.

j.g. lewis

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January 17

art is experienced

You will be perplexed by the questions or deceived by some of the answers; there are many.
You may not even understand the art, but you shouldn’t be confused by its purpose.
Art is art, in any state or format.
The process and the feelings and emotions it provides are personal.
It is felt more than it is viewed, or read, or watched
It is experienced.
Art is the reason more than the result.

01/17/2021 j.g.l.

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