VIRTUE

for Tom Lombardo

                              A virtue is a value that one lives,
                              Which out of generosity one gives
                              To benefit whoever is in need
                              And proves the polar opposite of greed.

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ANHINGA HANGOUT







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CONSIDERATION

                  Considering means sitting with your thoughts,
                  Deciding which are oughts and which are noughts,
                  Abiding till your judgment grows quite clear
                  And you’ve determined which way you will steer
                  And put your ass in gear.

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FLOURISHING

                    The Spirit, Soul or Essence that is life,
                    That animation with which we are rife,
                    Throughout the Cosmos seems the most profound
                    Of all the spatial wonders that abound.

                    But that we randomly occurred by blind
                    Coincidence, instead of being designed
                    By some implicit Mind, seems most absurd:
                    A conscious cosmic Source must be inferred.

                    If that be so, then we must wonder why
                    We have, and what directives may apply
                    Implicit in our cosmic consciousness
                    Prescribing the design for our success,

                        Assuming, then, we’re an experiment,
                        Let’s say that flourishing is our intent.

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ADVANCED HINDSIGHT

                    The Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke
                    Sounds like a bad invention by a kook,
                    A view ass-backwards with a rearward mirror
                    As if that would make everything much clearer;

                    But then, more charitably, I might grant
                    That looking at things from a different slant
                    Or with a fresh perspective yields a view
                    Revealing what’s more likely to be true.

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SATURDAY AT MEAD GARDEN

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HAPPINESS IS

I

                      This dear warm puppy snuggled by my head
                      As Kim and I lie sleeping in our bed
                      Has chosen us to be her overseer,
                      To keep her warm and safe and free from fear.

                      She trusts and loves us, happy to be by
                      Showing her comfort with a blissful sigh,
                      Knowing we will provide for all her needs
                      As our life-long companionship proceeds,

                      Or if she doesn’t know exactly this,
                      She’s satisfied with this moment of bliss.

II

                      O, this dear weary puppy snuggled by
                      My heart, as we lie cuddled warm in bed,
                      Is thoughtless, I suppose, while I ask why
                      I’m occupied by busy thoughts instead.

                      Perhaps it is her mission to remind
                      Me that as well as thinking, one must feel,
                      And that the best of feeling’s to be kind
                      And that emotions, more than thoughts, are real.

 

 

 

 

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