Life is never empty of pain
Value empathy not insularity
The path to balance writ plain
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Life is never empty of pain
Value empathy not insularity
The path to balance writ plain
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
The waterfall knows no equanimity
In early spring it rages
From the remnants of melting snow
In fall it is bone dry
Depleted
From the heat of the scorching summer
In winter it is still
The water cold and iced upon its rocks
The effort is
Throughout the seasons
To keep the waterfall in your mind
From early summer
When it is steady
Calm
Flowing
The water will escape its state
It always does
As will you
The effort is holding
Equanimity in your mind
When late spring is gone
And the water is a storm
Or drought
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Sometimes I hope for validation
A small token to keep me afloat
Sometimes validation doesn’t come
It then matters less than it did a moment before
Because it has to
There is an urgency to life
So little time in all
There are always the inspirational videos
That tell me to live fully all time
That fill me with guilt
For not being a star in the sky
Shining brightly
I’ll be grateful for the moments
I have strength to live life fully
Avoiding people and things
That tell me that the quiet slow moments
Have no worth
I need no one on a wall poster or internet video
To tell me life is short
I am cognizant and know this fact already
In kindergarten
They do not teach you
How to live in quiet desperate moments
That are plentiful
Where you are alone
Dealing with yourself
Your failures and inactions
You learn how to negotiate
All of it for a while
When you are not distracted
The reality of it all sinks in
Some good and bad
In one package
The fact that we are resilient
Is not clear to us
Until we are
So much of life is waiting rooms
Sitting in the car alone on the highway
The glare of cubicle lights for eight hours
Folding laundry and ironing
Filling the dishwasher
Raking leaves
That is alright
I give you my token of appreciation
For the mundane things
Validation
For the things they don’t make internet videos about
The quiet filler
Of which your life is built
Where you can find truth, balance, and health
As easy as anywhere else
I absolve you of the guilt
That your existence is not elevated all the time
By the spectacular
Carry on
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
I’m a lot like my father
Who lies quiet in the grave
I’m much like my mother
Yet not quite as brave
I’m a lot like the wind
Struggling with direction
I’m much like the water
Mirroring my introspection
I’m a lot like my sister
Struggling with myself
I’m much like my lover
When she takes me someplace else
I’m a lot like the rose
Beautiful and thorned
I’m much like a weed
When I feel lost and scorned
I’m a lot like nothing
When it all feels disconnected
I’m much like everything
When each morning I’m resurrected
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013