As, day by day, the Game is played,
The mind is pulled, this way and that,
So easily can it be swayed,
So hard it is to be exact.
With values that get out of hand
By senses changing as they may;
Consider all that we have planned,
Dismissing what we ought to say.
If we suppress those thoughts we hold
With words emerging, subtly changed
Then, when we hear that which is told,
Makes not it our world deranged?
For what is said is what we hear
Believing what we think we’re told,
Failing to see, twix mouth and ear
The deft vibration’s change unfold.
When words our inner feelings hide,
And damned up thoughts strive to express
A way for learning to confide
To earn the balm of happiness.
And while our thoughts seek to discern
A clear cut path along the way,
We need to know how we can learn
From those of more uncommon clay.
August 1991