Bag of Monkeys

author’s note:

Buddhist teaching tells us that the mind is a monkey chained to a post.

I keep trying to add links.  But carefully, carefully.


BAG OF MONKEYS

At birth, I was given
a bag of monkeys to carry.

A blessing and a burden:
a carnival to enjoy
but a task of management--
how to control without killing
the playful hijinks.

Fortunately, I now allow myself
to escape this struggle
by retreating to the high countryside
where I can open that bag
and let the monkeys dance
as I exhale in release.

But though I can occasionally feel at peace
I know I’m not yet a man of peace
and would never become one
if I remained on that mountain.

No matter what I accomplish
I’ll never feel myself a success unless
I can walk with that bag
balanced on my head
through our rowdy simian carnival.

33 1/3 New Fables & Myth: ebook
© 2021, Michael R. Patton

The String

author’s note:

Though I’m on a string, there is some slack.


THE STRING

I believe I’m on a string.

I say so because
many times I’ve been pulled
down roads
I didn’t wish to follow.

Yes, I often fought
but then the string yanked me--
dragged me along.
Unsettling to know
I wasn’t in control

until I realized:
this string could also be taking me
away from danger--
perhaps the edge of a cliff.

But what about those times
when the string seemed
to lead me into
adverse circumstance?

I decided to answer that question this way:
I need to learn what I need to learn.
Yes, the string operates according to plan--
a plan designed especially for me.

That idea gives me a little lift
when this path seems such a drag.
But before I inflate too much
I remind myself:
whatever holds my string
also steers
over seven billion other folk

following a plan
we can not see.

Soultime: a novel
© 2021, Michael R. Patton