NPM 2018: When the universe laughs at you (Day 9)

When the universe laughs at you
Written April 5, 2018

It's funny.
Hindsight is so respectable,
calculating missteps and mistakes
among pitfalls and bad breaks
and piling up your honors
in sad little corners
just to be forgotten,
lost and rotten
like there's no one they matter to
and while we're at it, neither do you.

It's funny.
Memory is intangible but
it can be caught in winter air,
reminders of how change isn't fair,
and from a stranger an awkward glance
tells you there are not second chances
because history says you are just too much
leaving you here, knowing you're
not enough.

It's funny.
All the lies that life tells you,
like that your thoughts have a place to go
between summer squalls and April snow,
like your spirit has a way of moving out
and can leave your body to do without
and all the while forgetting
that above there's no one betting
against you or your striving
or your trying-to-stay-alive-ing.

It's funny.
Humanity fails tremendously
but putting all of its tender trust
in an ambivalent universe or pixie dust
when all along there's a Creator
usually content to wait out your anger
and once you're done with all the lies
the truth shoots you between the eyes.

It's funny.
Everything stops eventually
and where all roads and stories end
you confront your oldest, truest friend.
The one who's seen all the trouble you're having,
who's coordinated all that you're planning,
who sees the life at which you're grasping,
sees you, knows you, and isn't laughing.