The fool thinks he is wise, but the wise man knows he can also be a fool.”
Anatole France
Yes — I said please don’t touch
go away and just leave me be
while inside I was crying out
please draw near — stay with me
you are light — you are pure
you are joy — you are free
I am not — I am the darkness
I am enraged — I am a beast
but in my fury and manic chaos
you reached out calmly — touched me
quieted my anger — quelled my fear
in your brightness you helped me see
like the good needs the bad
like happiness needs the sad
there’s only up if there is down
who’d know a smile without a frown
like day needs the night
like shore defines the sea
like light needs the darkness
there’s only cold if there is heat
it requires two different notes
to blend pure for harmony
we can never be only one
that is a fool’s fallacy
like the yin and the yang
like any wise philosophy
we exist only together
I’m in you — you’re in me
this is the depth
this is the weight
this is the meaning
this is the sacred mystery
how can one thing
yet both things be
this is the beautiful paradox
this is the way of balance — verily
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
This has nothing to do with the poem, but if you want to spend an incredible 90 minutes with Joni — I cordially invite you to do so.
Well-penned! The third stanza is touching and true. It’s the beauty in having a dual universe, when we can show compassion and love to those who need it, we learn more about it.
Thank you Tticia
Such a wonderful and mysterious balance to write about. It is a beautiful paradox.
The balance, that is what it’s all about.
Bravo Rob. I thought yin yang when i saw the prompt but ended up writing from another approach.
Much????love
Couldn’t resist… 🙂
I love the balance here, Rob.
Thank you Sarah… 🙂
A beautiful paradox indeed, Rob. I really enjoyed these lines:
‘it requires two different notes
to blend pure for harmony
we can never be only one
that is a fool’s fallacy’.
Thank you Kim. I have always thought musical chords taught a great deal about how something can be bigger and different when two notes blend.
And I forgot to say thank you for the Joni video. I have seen it before, but it’s always good to watch it again.
You are most welcome Kim. I just love the intimacy of that perticular concert evening — and hou can tell Joni is diggin’ it.
I think you summed it up nicely there, Rob. Nobody is entirely ‘good’ and no one entirely ‘bad’ but the concepts themselves spring from a religious sense of guilt and shame, teaching us that we are doing our god infinite harm by not coming up to standard. Just let it be, as you say.
I was raised Roman Catholic Jane. What a horror show that was.I mean really, if there was an all powerful omnipotent god, whatever that might be, we would be so totally irrelevant to such being, as to be invisible — likely as meaningless as insects are to us.
Rob, thank you for this! You expressed the paradox as well as the balance so beautifully. Love this. ??
You are welcome Punam… 🙂
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Love the poem, love the invitation at the end.
Thank you, I am pleased you loved it Shawna… 🙂
Your use of the lyrical voice works so well, just makes the exchange that much more immediate, as between two lovers.
Thank you Dora. I am pleased this resonates for you my friend… 🙂
Well done, Rob. The challenge of what is and what we want.
What we want hopefully comes through in life. 🙂
Rob, I love this line:
“it requires two different notes
to blend pure for harmony”
and I also love the shape of your poem. It looks like a piece of wood that has been shaped on a lathe. A dowel of wisdom (play on dao.)
Tao-te-Ching… yes 😉 Thank you Lisa… I am extremely visual, that is why I love to center justify my work — wonderful shapes form randomly. Often I will strive for a particular shape, like a descending pyramid for example. Or a lathed column, or a totem. A pleasing asymmetry can also be captivating. I just don’t like a clutter of words on the page. Just m’thang… 🙂
So true Rob–positive and negative are both necessary for completion.
Things would spin unrelentingly into oblivion.
We always need the opposites to find the right path.
Without the other, there is no balance.
Perfectly balanced, Rob!
I always enjoy the music you include.
Thank you sara!