by Branden Hart

Although I once had an extreme predilection,

For only things offering pleasure and fun,

I’m beginning to notice a growing discretion

For the world since this new stage of life has begun.

Things that at one time were taken for granted,

Whose relative import could not be conceived,

Were thrown in my face when this new seed was planted,

Along with ideas from which I was bereaved.

I now face the world with a grim fascination,

So quick to observe that to which I was blind,

My old views now subject to emasculation,

I search for the questions to answers I find.

Complexity hides in the shadows and corners,

Of minds that ignore its presence and strength,

And god forgive all who do not end up mourners

When its place in our world is discovered at length.

For years we see nothing but visible surfaces—

Textures and colors describe what we know.

And then, in the light of the knowledge of purposes

Structural traits begin slowly to show.

As humans we’re blessed with the will to decide

For ourselves how to live and react to the world,

It’s a gift far removed from the folks who deride

Those to whom sublime knowledge has just been unfurled.

I pledge now to seek out the answers to questions,

The ‘Whys’ and ‘Why-nots’ we are told to ignore,

And I forgive those, and their many transgressions,

Who actively choose to grow older no more.

Branden writes Uber's Corner and the ongoing novel An Audience of Shadows

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