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                                      Consolation

  

                                    Always,

                                    I take the road, I do not seek.

                                    The beaten path is enough for me.

                                    Swept by currents, against my will,

                                    I never stop to ask the way.

                                    Then later on, there comes the doubt,

                                    Why here, not there? Why left, not right?

                                    I do not shape my destiny,

                                    The game is never played by me.

 

                                    To console myself, I think,

                                    The road may not be worth seeking.

                                    But then, I never will know, will I?

                                    Inertia has always been my pillar,

                                    The fear of tomorrow, not the hope,

                                    Has been its solitary linchpin.

 

                                    This is not the stuff of heroes,

                                    That shape events and the lives of men,

                                    But it has its moments.

                                    How else can one linger by the shore,

                                    Cast a stone into the water,

                                    And watch the ripples float out to sea?

 

 

                                                     Jack Mashman