Why do we gag on a grain and swallow a loaf—
do things we swore we’d never do,
fail to keep the noble promises
made to ourselves as well as to you?

We fall in love against our better judgment—
do not accomplish what we’ve put off till today,
proclaim our love of nature as we destroy it.
do little more than view it with dismay.

The thought that soon our troubles will be over
brings feelings of both sorrow and release.
I think our God knows we are more
than untidy aggregates of dichotomies.


Elaine Parker Akin
2/16/19