You can be better than that
I wanted to say,
as if I have any right
to throw stones,
to cast aspersions,
to hurl insults.
You can be better than that.
Can’t we?
Can’t we better than
our base reaction,
our primal response,
our standard operating procedure?
This is who I am
she yelled at me once
through clenched teeth,
eyes crazy wild with
the frustration of chemistry.
This is who I am
I yelled back,
clenched, crazy—
my inheritence.
You can be better than that.
Can’t I? Be better?
Rise above my own refrain?
The one I fall into lockstep.
This is not what they mean
by “let go of your thoughts.”
You can be better than that.
WORDS: ©2014, Jen Payne
IMAGE: Thought, by Nicholas Roerich. Nicholas Roerich known also as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh, was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, enlightener, philosopher, and public figure.
Well done, and keeping mouth shut is my lip-biting rule when i can obey it. Adore the image, Jen, and the poem.
Yes. Yes. There is the keeping mouth shut option. : )
Nice. Often hard to recall just who we are, “in the moment,” isn’t it.
I am always delighted when I can find myself amidst the familiar OLD behaviors.
What a wonderful message. We all find ourselves in those situations when we say something we wish we didn’t. The trick is remembering to do better next time and make amends for our mistakes.
exactly!