Two Different Things --- a poem

Two Different Things

Some people say that what you see is what you get, but

what I say is that “a poor man is make up of muscle and blood.”

When I am in the company of a beautiful woman I feel I own the store.

But soon enough the tax man cometh and I lose it all.

When things are not quite right you know it at some level.

What I wish and what I get are two different things.

I have not come to argue with you about the times we are living in.

I am not here to bury Cesar or to purchase another car.

I come and I see your face when worry has seized it.

I look beneath your confusion when the mud has not settled.

How I wish my friend that I can un-prison you

and transform you into the maple

slenderly twisting its trunk with finess outside my window,

just beyond my grasp,

rising above my view; heavenward it stretches,

and so, my friend, stop looking at the ground

because if you can look up, you can get up.

When my heart is calm I see sparrows flitting from tree to brush, from brush to tree.

Where you look and how you look is a human responsibility

That extra care can sometimes mean the difference between life and death,

and this is what I wish for you -

bluebirds in the spring, a cozy fire that warms your lonely heart,

and most of all when snowflakes fall, I wish you love.

Koon Woon

2017