Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Perils of Comparison



Tricky to craft a steady life
With a brain that’s tuned to changes –
Wired for difference, hog-wild for contrast,
Seeing what is only as not what is not.
Delight makes habit, and habit blunts delight,
And new delights are dangerous
To the dangerous old ones.
Boredom is Charybdis,
And desolation Scylla,
But boredom is desolation too.
Risk, or atrophy;
Venture, or keep.
Let accustomed music tire the ear,
Or brace for wretched screeching.

Or make no simple answer.
Navigate.
Weave, dodge, and dare the chicanes.
Outsmart your change-mad brain
With cunning modulations
That keep alive the melody –
But never say I told you it was easy,
Or that I failed to warn you
About the whirlpool
And the sneering cliffshackled beast.

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