A Leper’s Wisdom
There is so much I do not know,
for I did not live a life full of beauty.
Mine was something else,
but in spite of that, or perhaps
because of it, I know something
about faith, instead.
About the gift of simply
being here. About what can be
endured, survived.
About why the sun bothers
to rise over my humble terrace,
just as it ascends the gates of some
grand distant castle.
Quit trying to make perfect
an imperfect world—
propping up one thing after another
in desperation, when everything
is perpetually on its way
to the ground.
Dear one, great skeptic
of the inevitable, you are
duped by this futile notion
again and again.
Stop wasting time.
Claire Juno, © 2017
On this memorial of the New York terrorist attacks, see also:
Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi’s “Wake Up”
from the CD liner notes: “Let us unite and do away with hatred and jealousy. Time is against us.”
vindicating vashti 