grays and greys in poetry

getting old has not taught me much
which shouldn’t be that surprising
human beings in general aren’t good
at learning things despite claims
to the opposite, no, we are better
at feeling things, we are the damn
best at feeling things, especially
before trying to think it through

the years I have lived getting old
taught me a few things however
that I wish I could teach all
I wish we were born knowing
I wish kids would just know
chief among them is this
there’s nothing on Earth
nothing under the heavens
nothing in hell or our hearts
worth purchase at any cost

by this I mean “any cost”
everything has a price
everything a trade-off
there is nothing so bad
and also nothing so good
that any other thing
would be worth it

revolutionaries and
reactionaries make
their butter and
their bread on
the lie that
some things are
worth anything
worth everything
but in this life
everything a negotiation
everything a compromise
everything an unintended
consequence

when someone says
“at any cost” ask
them and yourself
what the actual
cost will be

is your freedom
worth the death
of millions?

is your new pleasure
worth broken hearts?

that chocolate bar
the child slavery
your righteousness
someone’s dignity
your glorious revolution
the blood spilled for it
your jokes
their pain

there is nothing
there has never been anything
there will never be anything
worth every other cost
there has ever been

before you declare
some idea sacrosanct
before you go to war
for high-minded ideal
before you act
think

will this hurt the people
that’s you’re trying to help
even more than what you
think you are fixing?

is it worth it?
your being-right
your idiot pride
what things will
you burn down in
blind arrogance?
what’s the cost?

as I got myself old
the older I got the
more I wanted to let
everyone else do so
as well, to grow old
you don’t learn much
but it beats most of
the alternatives
not all of course
but most of them

Last updated November 05, 2021