Daily Archives: February 6, 2003

Exposure

In reality, we all stand naked
and alone on the dark edge of a cliff;
if sometimes, fearlessness cannot be faked,
that is not shameful. It is not as if

we are the only fools who shiver
when faced with the specter of some unseen
fate, or hesitate at a great river
not knowing just what lies waiting downstream.

Any time you cut beneath the surface,
there will be a wound, and you will draw blood
(and some will flinch and turn their faces from you,
not understanding the surgeon’s purpose,
nor seeing their own cold flesh caked with mud);
those with their own pale scars will see you through.

06 FEB 2003

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Finding the Inner Core

It is never quite what you expected
(after all, there are no maps or guidebooks)
in that place inside where resurrected
illusions are hiding in each dark nook;

What they taught you regarding self-knowledge
(the meaning of a man, our true nature),
those endless books and long years of college,
convincing you that you were so mature

is often just a load of worthless crap.
When you really do start finding yourself,
what you first see is not easy to take –

it’s not Nirvana that falls in your lap,
but the shattered fragments of something else –
the spent cocoon each caterpillar makes.

06 FEB 2003

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