page 129

my friend,

you say nice things to me.

you say i have been

a miraculous stepping stone on your way,

but i cannot accept this accolade;

you are your bones.

you are your foot.

you are your heel.

you are the muscles in your foot.

you are the nerves in your foot.

you are the muscles in your leg.

you are the nerves in your leg.

you are the weight of your pelvis.

you are thought in your mind.

you are action in your body.

you are the will in your heart.

you are the step.

i am just a stone along your path.

:::

gratitude

is the acceptance and recognition

of the true and simple significance

of a thing

as it belongs to its beholder

at any given moment.

:::

if it were not for the cycle of rain,

there would be no precipitation of the past

to water the flora of the future.

:::

never crown yourself as king.

cease to endow yourself as a queen.

for you will sit atop a glorified chair.

become gluttonous and sedentary.

complacent without a care.

your actions will be next-to-none.

adorned by lifeless stone columns.

a voice no louder than an echo-of-one.

power-heavy like your coat of furs.

indifferent and morally apathetic.

the heart of an abandoned aquifer.

do not wear your power     

like that of a gold ring on your finger.     

do, instead, seek to alchemize     

the hearts and minds     

of those you have touched.     

:::

casting your eyes down sight

possessing a personel credence

as a lowly piece of graphite.

let there be no credence more unfounded!

not all brilliance need be bright

as i have always envisioned you

a rare diamond in the moonlight.