Andrew MacLaren-Scott: Shadow Mask

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The Wash

It will all come out in the wash, they say
in the great, grand wash of Time
with the spin cycle of our good Earth each day
and the soak and the suck of the tide
And every disruptive distraction
will disperse to much less than it seems
as everything currently consuming us
dissolves like yesterday's dreams

Okay as me

The sun on my face
the gentlest of breeze
a glass of refreshment
my fine lady to squeeze
The wash of the water
the wisps of high cloud
a good planet turning
a hill high and proud
The green and the gold
the sun bright and warm
the strangest of feelings
that it was good to be born
A purpose that beckons
A reason to be
A quiet realization
that I'm okay as me

As I was

Everything ruined by worry
was I
Every fear that existed
was me
Every disaster was waiting
to fall
Every demon my number
to call
Every day was a struggle
to live
Every night was a trouble
to dream
Every dawn an unwelcome
awakening
Every birth a reminder
of death
Every smile a grimace
a sneer
But...
nothing to fear, to fear, to fear
but fear
I hear

The cynical appraisal

Corruption is rife
and petty small fiddles
the bribes and backhanders
and commonplace diddles
the cash in the hand
and the nod and the wink
the preference of buddies
and the done deals that stink
the seedy deceits
in the snatched secret meets
the men and the women
with their quick cheating screwing
the hands in the till
and the rigging of votes
the stitched up agendas
fixed with sly secret notes
To cheat is to live
to live is to lie
it's the way of the human
from start until die

Just

We live in a world of changing season
with effects that must each have a cause
but within that may lie deeper reason
or things that are just there because
Not beginning or ending or affecting
just always and always and on

So is everything just here for ever
in a world that is endlessly stuck
in a cycle of repeated repeating
which is possibly just our tough luck?

And it's never the thought that's the problem
The problem is in the belief
There's nothing silly in wondering
but's it's silly to think that we know
if knowing just cannot be justified
as most claims of knowing cannot
It may not be easy not knowing
but that may just be the problem we've got

The best and the worst

The worst ignorance
is to be ignorant of our ignorance
The worst certainty
is the certainty there is no uncertainty
The worst thoughts
are the thoughtless thoughts
The worst words
are the words that hurt
The worst hurts
are the hurts by words
and the worst response
is to despair
The worst days
are the days of failure
but the best days
are when failure triggers
the best response
which is to build
and to repair
and looking back
to say
that the best day
was that worst day
there
the worst day
the best day
the best day
the best
the best
is there
is here
Clear?

Spiralling through

An end is always a beginning
a beginning is always an end
though not of a circle
but a spiral
with time as the twister that bends
and spins and pulls and changes
and thank goodness for that spiralling too
as a spiral offers much more of interest
than circling a circle could do

20 December 2014

Shadow Mask