Beauty isn’t everything,
But it’s really nice;
If we don’t make virtues in-
To some sort of vice
Beauty isn’t everything,
But let’s not be small:
Envy isn’t anything
We should want
At all
(“Beauty Isn’t Everything” – 7-12-2015)
Tag: Envy
AKA (Animal Kingdom Analogies)
Debt’s an Anaconda
That crushes you, but slowly;
Lust, a Venus Flytrap
That quickly takes you wholly
Envy is an Adder
That poisons at the heel
Depression is a Spider
That takes time with its meal
To share is human:
Of Human Blindness
Of human blindness, and its cost
We find a people strangely lost
In wishing ill on those they find
To whom the Fates have been more kind
It’s funny how we cannot see
The things we do reflexively
Like envy others what they have
And think that this our souls will salve
So we don’t strive for blessedness
But to prevent others’ success
And human blindness, hard and fast
Turns into madness at the last
To share is human:
The night will always open up its arms…
The night will always open up its arms
To one like you, ye favored of the earth;
And shield you from the worst of worldly harms,
The way it has since your advantaged birth
Your travels done with such unthinking ease,
Tonight you are in Egypt for a spell;
While others scratch at dust upon their knees,
You’ve gifts unopened too profuse to tell
But why? It isn’t beauty or acclaim,
Although you’ve some of both, but just a share;
Your are not devious or full of shame,
You’re merely you, and mostly, you’re just there –
Perhaps, you’re not what I should contemplate,
But why I look at you, and curse my fate
To share is human:
Days of Beauty and of Youth
There, the perfect life:
The days of beauty, and of youth —
When you believe the image
Then you never know the truth
No matter where you look,
No matter what you think you see:
Each human life is full
Of misstep, hurt, and misery —
So, you see someone now who has
The whole world on a plate;
But do not see them in the night
Alone, disconsolate
There, in perfect youth,
Whate’er the problems, they’ll be small —
When you believe the image
You won’t see the truth
At all
To share is human:
The Runner
Heaven bless
Her strength of will, which
I envy
[Inspired by a runner down the street. – Owen]
To share is human:
Hills of Envy
Looking over every crest
For something I can’t find
Spiteful reasons coalesce
This oxidizing mind
Not a touch of reaching Fall
My soul so cancerous
There’s no beauty nor light at all
Can soothe this animus
For those who have what I don’t have
It’s hard to overrate
The wound there is, that has no salve
From my
Undying
Hate
To share is human:
Envy’s Antidote
I have been prone to envy since
I was a little boy:
Disliking any child with
A better, newer toy
So I was in my twenties
And it happened, unexpected
An older woman mentored me
A woman I respected
The best advice she ever gave
Does not take long to tell:
To never dislike people for
The things that they do well –
And never envy people when
Good fortune was their lot.
A lesson I learned at the time
And never since forgot
For beauty, brains or riches,
For great talents, or great fame —
If these enure to others
That in no way mars my name
For happiness, as we all know
‘s a form of gratitude
Which envy wrecks, since it’s
A countervailing attitude
So my friend Jan, my mentor,
A psychologist by trade,
Taught me a thing worth knowing
Even if rarely
Displayed
.
.
.
(… this prompt …)
To share is human:
Redneck Riviera
Panama City, USA.
Mid-northwest of Floriday –
Known for beaches, beer and sex;
Riviera for rednecks.
Went there often, yesteryear –
Saw the beaches, drank the beer;
But some redneck who’s not me
Must have found carnality
So I sat and judged them, bad —
Envious
Of what they had
