who really understands ?

This Poem is inspired by My Brother Joski . . .

Much Love to you my Brother, my Friend . . .

bill

who really understands ?

who amongst us truly understands

the path of a man

we call brother

who truly can feel

the pain another

endures

we go about our lives

insulated

for we have our own issues

and woes

dancing in our thoughts

we sometimes employ our toes

to dance

that we may perhaps

dance our spirits away

far away

where we can no longer hear it

the cries of that inner child

for solace

understanding

and comfort

where we may

escape from the ghosts of darkness

that haunts all souls of light

and some

do

believe they are not

and can not be

frightened

but the auspiciousness of life

and i smile for them

for even in their delusions

they seem to be ok

for a while

others of us

have given up

attempting to reconcile

and reassemble the puzzle

of reasonable divinity

and with undue affinity

we yet still meander down crooked paths

we see as straight

but straight unto what i ask ?

i look to my left

and i sense pain

through my eyes

and they are open

for a moment

but i have to close them

and seek that place

that place of dreams

so i can face

all that seems

displaced in this heaven i desire

the fire i once avidly stoked

as a youth

quietly burns

with a sort of ambient glow

and most times i am content

to sit and watch the licks of flame

flicker

from orange to yellow to blue to red

and sometimes green

for there is still yet much

we have not seen

will we ever ?

and as clever as we may think we are

or i am

or wish to be

there is an looming uncertainty

as to where this path truly leads

yes like you too

i know what i have been told

and all i embrace as possibility

was put in the fold of “knowledge”

by someone else

who perhaps too

stood on this same precipice of self

seeking answers

and in the end of it all

wherever that may be

call it the land of the free for some

purgatory for others

i ask again

this simple question

for that other man

who resides in me

as well

who really understands ?

(c) 3 January 2012 : William S. Peters, Sr.