Distant divisions

In all modesty
it’s about the words
the words that you lay down
day in day out in verse
the poetry that comes
with your breathing
or from your breath
the particulars of life
that you choose to salute
those events and those feelings
that remain when all else
has been subtracted
what is of importance

As the master said
learn your distances
know your intimacies
confuse neither

the rose you dared to pick
the love you dared to live
the intensity of it all
the here and now of it
that construct of space
within time that you dared
to create for there is risk
in all things that animate
and chance would be
a fine thing if it existed
the question is
do you lead a life
or are you led by it
who is running the show
who decides whether
you live or you die
in truth to yourself

John Lyons