Wednesday, August 29, 2018

NEW POEM: Straight Up Without Explanation


Hubris
by Judith Cullen
© 2018

Don't try and explain,
to those trying on
life like a new suit.
Full of knowledge
bursting, seeing what  
is right so very clearly
from their new shoes.

Don't fuss or worry.
In six months all
will change to new
fashions, discoveries.
All will be the correct,
proper garb for the
very righteous.

Remember those days,
if you possibly can.
Recall, acknowledge
that incredibly necessary
energy of the young -
it must be self-assured,
if a bit eagerly intense.

You have been
where they will go.
You know the trials
of loves broken, dreams
that change and drift.
You've learned the journey
is the actual mark.

Don't try and tell them.
They don't want to know.
Owning their path,
let them learn about it
as we all must do:
one mysterious, injudicious
step at a time.

Turning the other way,
look at the very elderly
with wonder and ask
"what will I learn
about now when I too
stand in that place, shod
in those decaying shoes?"

Laugh at yourself,
accepting that the hubris
of any, every age is
that we do not know
what we do not know.
And what is more,
we do not want to.

##

No comments:

Post a Comment