Someone said to me recently
“You talk the talk,
but you don’t walk the walk.”
They said, “you speak of peace and calmness
But you aren’t.”
Nor are you always joyful and sometimes
Downright angry.
I said, “I know, I know, I know.”
Every day I miss the mark
Every day I stumble or fall
Every day my tongue slips
And words are spoken
Before I can lasso them
And haul them back
To the quiet of just a thought
Safe in the corral of the mind.
Oh, it is a wild and wooly world out there
And if I sold all I possess
And disappeared into the piney grove
Where wifi wouldn’t reach
Would you find me? And find me better?
But I have a condo, a car, a computer and a cell phone
Gnawing at my time,
Looking over my shoulder, saying, “MORE, more, more.”
Walking on water? Oh, I’ve tried and tried. It’s out of reach.
I mostly disappointed my mother; I couldn’t spell.
My father, I couldn’t find.
I hold the mirror up every day. . . .
Perfection has never appeared.