The man who has progressed

through being a sinner to being a saint

has progressed

from one illusion to another.

~Krishnamurti

finding myself on the edge of everything…

inquiry for today~ this moment may strike you into loving more…

true essence…

I get how hard this will be.

There’s no way around it.

We’re carved by time into

essence. And the call is to help 

each other drink enough essence 

to balance out the pain. This 

may be the honest work of joy. 

As a tentative young poet, 

I remember approaching Paul 

Blackburn. He had cancer and 

he kept everyone away, saying, 

“I want no pity for a pain I 

would share with no one.”

And Yeats bemoaned getting 

old like some eloquent crow. 

I’m not judging these fine souls. 

I feel my own version of the 

beautiful gauntlet between 

birth and death.

And to feel all this is necessary, 

but to rant against life is to efface 

both the song and the singer.

I just know that we were never 

meant to be more than a part 

of this. And just because I will 

age and die, I will not deny that 

life will keep living. It deserves 

our praise.

And though I understand the 

roar of Dylan Thomas, I actually 

want to go gentle into that 

good night.

~Mark Nepo