Strange Days

You can’t burn out

if not on fire

You can’t be hurt

without desire

You can’t be found

if never lost

You’ll never melt

without a frost

Your memory void

without a thought

You’re never freed

if never caught

You’ll never plant

without a seed

You need the words

to have a creed

The past depends

on present spent

The pawn shop thrives

on items lent

The morning lost

without the night

The truth abeyant

—wrong or right

(The New Room: July, 2022)