My Better Eyes

author’s note:

Pollyanna gets a bad rap.


MY BETTER EYES

I

Hard for me to see
god in me

but often even harder
to see god in the other.

Nonetheless
I occasionally make the effort
to open my better eyes

especially when I feel the need
to feel the love
that opens up when I see god.

II

The idea of “god within”
can be useful when dealing with conflict
because
if I can see god in the other
the other may feel
the love coming from me
and then respond
by opening his own better eyes.

No, I can’t know for certain
where god lives
or even if god does
but I can see what best serves--
in other words:
I'm keeping that god concept
in my toolbox of beliefs.

III

But to be honest
that tool usually goes unused
when most needed--
too often I succumb
another belief
long accepted as fact:

you can avoid hurt
by seeing the demon.

But in the aftermath
of that bad choice
when I retreat to my solitude
I’ll again feel the need to feel the love
that opens up when I see god

and so
I’ll again make the effort
to open my better eyes

and by opening, again see
those painful truths--see
how I actually create more hurt
(for myself, for you, for all of us)
by keeping my better eyes shut.

At such times
I encourage myself
with these words:
if you’re strong enough to see
both your best and your worst
you’re strong enough to learn
how to keep your better eyes open.

© 2019, Michael R. Patton
Searching for my Best Beliefs: poetry ebook