Perfection

I've heard people say we live in a perfect world,

When in fact,

It’s filled with perfectionists,

But no real perfection.

From when we are little,

To our dying days,

We all constantly change ourselves,

We hope that we will finally fit in.

Our hairstyles and the way we dress,

It all seems to define us.

You’re judged on how you look,

And even how much money you have.

We look to our past and see someone who used to be,

Someone who lost their innocence,

Someone so totally changed,

It’s unbelievable.

We look at our present and see,

we’re just  another human changing for others,

But there isn't need to worry,

Because so is everyone else.

We look to our future,

Yet we can’t quite picture it,

We don’t know what we’ll look like,

Because we will keep changing.

After all we are humans,

Perfection isn't ever going to be ours,

Because as soon as you’re perfect,

You’re not human.

Sick With Secrets

(Author's note:  This poem is about the danger of secrets being spread. If they are with trustworthy people it is ok.  But, when spread to the wrong person your life is put on hold.  Eventually you find this is told in the point of view of someone who had their secret shared or shared a secret before.  They are begging someone to never share a secret)

A mad disease passed from person to person,

Only the most trustworthy won’t spread it.

For when it is shared,

It is not itself anymore.

It transforms from something hidden to a giant problem,

Ruins your past and follows you into your future.

Everything you’ve ever known…

Changes.

Suddenly your life revolves around your sickness,

Every corner you turn,

Every car that passes,

Is scaring you.

Look me in the eyes dear,

Promise me you won’t ever spread this disease.

Lock it away deep inside you,

Where even Angels can’t find them.

Keep yourself together,

Now run from all of the sick.

Lock that disease inside you,

And never spread it to another.

Red Lipped Lady

(Author’s Note: Red Lipped Lady is ‘temptation’  Some could not resist although it meant falling off a cliff for power and riches.  The only two that could turn away from temptation were the strongest.  The villagers that jumped were representing ‘greed’ and the things people do over greed)

It was peaceful that night. Wind brushed past the trees and then disappeared into the moonlight.  Stars glimmered in the sky allowing for even the most evil of spirits to withdraw.  A girl no louder than your quietest whisper wandered throughout the maze. Somehow she engrossed you and brought you under her spell.  Her red lips parted only once to whisper, “Come with me.  I will give you power and riches.”  Those simple sentences were enough for the men of the village to follow the Red Lipped Lady through the darkness. Soon they came to a cliff and all of the men looked over.

 “Red lady, we cannot walk further.” 

“Take one more step off the cliff and the power is yours.  Turn around you will not have anything.”  The Red Lipped Lady was intriguing and no man left the edge of that cliff.  For a while they stared over the immense drop and awaited for the bravest of them to step over the edge. 

“I will!” announced the biggest of the group.  “And you will see men that I will have endless riches and power.”  he jumped off the cliff.  That man fell and disappeared underneath the fog clouds. 

Soon, there were only two men left who had not jumped.

“Oh, Red Lipped Lady we do not want to fall,”  the eldest of the two admitted.   

   “But, the power.  The riches will not be yours.”

“I would rather go back to my family.” Both turned and started back to the village. 

“Wait, are you sure?”  The youngest nodded.  “Well the power and riches are yours to keep.  You resisted me and that is something only the bravest and strongest of men can do.”  She vanished from the cliff and was to never be found.

Nothing is the Meaning Of Life

(Author’s Note: I really try to hit hard on the symbols and the idea of nothingness.  Sometimes you may feel a bit at a loss for words because just the idea of nothingness is so difficult to explain.  Impossible in any language to entirely understand.)

Every night people laid out their outfit for the next day, and then tucked their children in bed.  The old man sat alone in a café.  Children had a cup of milk and the parents a half glass of wine.  The old man screamed for more Brandy.  Everybody was moving on in their lives greeted by the morning sun and cradled to bed by the moonlight.  Yet, here in this well lighted place, a lonely man sat still in a booth.  This man was an insignificant speck in a sea of nothingness.

Unlike the younger waiter who flies through life happily and sees no reason to be despaired, the older waiter and old man are extremely overwhelmed with the idea of nothingness.  Although the idea itself of nothingness seems  simple, it’s so complex that people need a light to get them through the night.  There was no one waiting for them back home, nowhere to go, and nothing to go back to.  That café was the only place that may have saved them from nothing.  There was nothing to turn to for meaning.

When the older waiter recites the prayers, “Our nada who art in nada” he accomplished wiping out the idea of heaven and God in less than a sentence.  This shows how people may turn to religion for purpose, but in time find nothing there.  We learned that the old man had money, but that did not cure his despair.  Also he had a wife, but she has either died or divorced.  When he finally got to his brink he attempted suicide to end the nothingness for good.  The old waiter and the old man both can only subdue this monstrosity by waiting out the night in a well lit café.  This is a daily routine they can control unlike the nothingness that has taken up their life.

   In the very last part of this passage Hemingway repeated “it” and “that” quite often.  We never clarify what this may mean, but we find what the older waiter is trying to explain something that may be beyond what English, Chinese, Dutch, and every other language in the world can describe.  This thing bringing dread upon him is massive, possibly infinite.  Perhaps….the meaning of life.  Night becomes a dangerous, empty place for all of those who try to consider it.  Only that café provides a hiding place from their darkest nightmares and their deepest thoughts.