Time and Illusion
by Michael Doyle

Walking through life's many miles
I count my wins by my smiles
Some might think I've been abused
But mostly, I stand amused

All the countless false charges
Designed by enemies to somehow enlarge
The bad things I've sometimes done
In the end, I think it's me who has won

Laid across my feathery bed
Whispering traces through my head
All this time and it's illusions
Have walked me past any confusion

Fighting the clock of future recollections
Laughing at the points in their connections
I'm no longer nostalgic about my sorrow
Instead, I lean in hard for my tomorrows

I have seen that you're as big as you love
Guided there when I listen to God above
And that you're as small as what annoys
You into irritation above all of life's joys

When we allow lesser evils to open our door
The greater evils find their way to pour
Through and compete with better opportunities
It seems so subtle how we lose to the impurity

Conversely, we find friendship multiplies the good
While dividing all the evil that is understood
Finding good advice in the humorous jokes we tell
The smile shared is deeper than the best details

In the end, we find we are not prisoners behind
The locked doors of the ignorance of closed minds
Especially when we read what others will not read
And, in this, begin to find the clarity that we need

(c) January 24, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved