My life feels like lost library books…

and the fines get larger

and the books I can’t find,

were not worth reading.

It’s kinda like friends—there’s a few, that can influence you

and the others

waste your time.

My circumstances have made me stronger

not because they wanted to

but because I learned what to do

each morning

so that difficulties and insanities make me sharper.

In the end,

this is all that matters.

I don’t think money matters—just as long as you have a quiet place

to make sense of yourself, before entering the day

If you walk into madness too often, without making sense of it

You will become angry,

and nothing will save you.

Who you become

is what matters.

Facing

dead, unfriendly, faces

with style

with a status that requires no comparison

with no attachment

and no need

to say anything—

this is what matters.

People who conquer others

are defeated

inside.

People who need to prove their worth

are poor.

We must overcome ourselves

Self-overcoming is not political office

but contentment

that warms

like a wood stove, on a cold night

It’s a full feeling

so far away from empty

and the world will never understand that.