we litigate our sorrows

   mediate happiness

   negotiate contentment

barter wisdom for unsuspecting logic

 

did we stop

looking

for the trust

for the certainty

in what we know

   what we carry

 

   veiled imperfections

   spiteful recollection

   accepted resentment

the perseverance of inadequacies

 

as we keep

close

to the truth

to the familiar

to what we know

   what we carry

 

   compromised ethics

   unwritten guarantees

   pathetic promises

admit what you have lived through

 

© 2019 j.g. lewis