The State of Love, Trust, and Doubt
False words and lies Friction Building up a tolerance Fraction Break of trust Fueling nostalgia For the days of better men Oh, fear of my heart When will you love And trust me once again To fill the empty void Of my soul With words and actions And holy embraces Oh, doubt of my soul Tried and true Right on cue "Turn left," they say When right is the way I must go I run not by faith But in my own knowledge Tricked by my brain To chart my destiny's course On the outskirts of heaven Through the suburbs of hell
When I look back at a lot of these poems from twenty years ago, I thought I knew a lot about life and experiences, but they mostly ring untrue. Not because I was a liar or trying to write beyond my level of understanding, but because I didn't know any better.
Life is naturally a humbling experience. In twenty years, I entered the arena, got beaten up, learned to fight, and flee when it was time. What will future Chris say when he looks back on the two different versions of himself present in these poems?
Newsletter Notes:
Today's soundtrack included Hemispheres and Fly By Night by Rush.
The Midjourney prompt for the artwork above: the suburbs of hell, the outskirts of heaven --ar 16:9.
I set "The State of Love, Trust, and Doubt" in the graphic above in Timberline. I loved the gritty, handwritten feel.