Chaos and the Dark

Emerson implored us to
advance on chaos and the dark,
but the older I get the more I
wonder if the illusion of light
and order is truly an advancement

Science tells us the answers are
within our grasp, but it seems to
me we are but infants – and science
keeps handing us switch blades
to play with

We always think a little more
knowledge will help us fix things
and on we rush like fools excited
by that next new… trap – we see
the cheese and the shiney metal
around it, but our experimentation
has yet to reveal the jagged razor
teeth – our ignorance will not
keep the hammer set – nor will it
slow the spring’s unwind

We seek the cause for every effect
in futile desperation – the options are
infinite and there is no difference
between an unknowable answer
and no answer at all

I would much rather spend my life
smelling the soft rain in summer,
appreciating the awesome site of a
very old tree, seeing the joy on a
little girl’s face when she runs in
tall grass

I would rather live forever in the
moment of your smile

I am a spectator
watching the world go by
one minute at a time

Looking at my watch
ticking and ticking and ticking
waiting for the afternoon
to fade into evening

Hours go by and busy
with work and home and
projects never ending
and never beginning

As soon as this hour has passed
the next one will surely be better
there is always something
to look forward to

The days turn into weeks
just waiting for the next
one to come

Next week will be different

Next week the world will
change and life will be
here for living

Watching the months float by
and counting
thinking that the numbers
piling up somehow adds significance

We’ve been talking for a month
or writing letters for two
three months go by
and this might mean something
though I’m not sure what

And the years
- the years crawl by
forever waiting for something
unknown and unknowable

I am a spectator waiting
for that next…

(that next)

Someday something will happen

And I will sit and watch