What Should I Keep?

I have traveled long, and I am weary.
I come to a bridge that I must cross,
but the bridge guard bids me to halt.
"If you want to cross the bridge,
you must give up everything,
but one thing", the guard says.

"But what if I want to keep more", I ask.
Only one thing is the reply.
I feel sad that I will have to give up
the possessions that I treasure.

Maybe I will not make a decision,
but instead just outwait the guard.
Then I reflect on the bones that I saw
of those who just sit and sit,
awaiting the external guard to leave.

I sigh and reflect on What should I keep?
Hmmm...my computer, which is used a lot.
Or maybe my cell phone, which I am glad to have.
How about my favorite book that I love to reread,
or maybe my favorite pink that I won.

Hmm...what about a gun with a bullet or maybe a rope.

However, I reflect some more and realize
that those are mere possessions.

That maybe who and not what is important.
So I reflect on my family, my parents and sibs.
Then I reflect on my long separated spouse,
who I still love from afar.

Who should I choose and why?

Would it be fair to pick only one person

and leave the others behind.

As I ponder who or maybe what, I look around.

Some just sitting there with forlorn looks.

I see some who cross sadly;

an occasional person crosses contently.

"Why are they so content?"

The thought circles around in my head.

I get up and walk around and sit back down.

All the while reflecting on "What should I keep?"

At long last, a decision comes that makes me smile.

I tell the guard, who smiles at my decision.

I cross the bridge happily with my one possession.

A possession that I can never lose,

unless I lose it. Even then, I can still get it back.

It will never die nor run away for it is mine.

From this springs all that I had and will have again.

I feel so happy for I kept hope.

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Towards the Light

Out, out of the tunnel
and in the light.

It feels strange
not being in the dark.

The darkness was my security;
its hopelessness was my friend.

But as friends go,
it was fickle.

It wanted what it wanted,
and gave nothing back really.

Like an energy-vampire, it drained me,
and then complained there was nothing left.

However, no matter how dark it was
I believed there was light ahead.

So onward my legs went.
Sometimes slow; sometimes fast.

They went forward in the direction
of the light to the end of the darkness.

My fickle friend was scared,
and its fear scared me.

Yet neither its fear
nor my fear stopped me.

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Reality?

Things are not the same,
yet they are.

Sometimes dizziness is sanity -
spin around and around.

Pull inward.
Pull outward.

Focus on reality,
but what is reality.

Reality as it was
is not reality as it is.

To be happy in reality,
hope must exist inside of it.

Hope springs eternal,
so how deep is its well?

Sameness, diziness, in and out,
Focus reality, and hope.

They exist at the same time -
inside, competing, fighting, and directionless.

Direction, which way?
Just go, it does not matter.

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Risk

Alone, yet not.
People around me, yet no one to talk to.
Isolated in a box that no one can see
nor I know how to open.

Silent screams echo in my head,
reverberating constantly.
No one hears them; not even I.

Starting anew this is to expected.
The old life was safe and secure,
but it was a dead end.

Risk taking is hard and not always rewarding;
however, without risk, life is boring and dull.
Riskless life becomes an ever darkening black.

Because of a change, new doors open,
and old ones close.
At times, the old ones may be wished upon;
nevertheless, they are better off closed.

A whiteness appears as new doors open
and excitement and joy live again.
Wonderment over what will come,
and what will be.

For new doors are best opened slowly
and the newness appreciated,
so the past can be remembered
while risks are taken.

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Why?

You always follow me.

Why?

You haunt my dreams.

Why?

You scare me.

Why? Why? Why?

Do you do them to me?

Why do I want you
and embrace you?

Why do I want to have you
envelope me?

Why will I do anything for you
for your deadly loving embrace?

It is because I love you.

Why?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.