ON THE WAY TO JOY

ON THE WAY TO JOY

Wean yourself, my friend, from screaming,
Give yourself, my love, to dreaming.
Light a candle for each time smiles creep like panthers across your face.

Wean yourself, my friend, from sorrow,
Have some faith in a new tomorrow,
Make this world of demons your bauble and your toy.
The path is laid with ice and stones, on the way to joy.

First the icicles must break.
The winter must slip between the cracks of treacherous, slippery sidewalks.
The eyes must swim in their aqueous and vitreous humors
With a clear shine devoid of glaze.
Life through the microscope must come into focus
And the days must lose their mystic haze.

Next the tears must fall like syrup,
Down your hard Mount Rushmore face.
The cold must melt beneath the gun
Of a fire breathing, fighting sun.
The eyes must swim in the peril of the terrors they see.
The heart must warm to the pale, grim journey.
The mind must cradle the tragic in its bosom,
Compassion must live bold and free.

So wean yourself, my friend, from screaming,
Long enough to start your dreaming,
Light a candle for each time smiles creep like a sunrise across your face.
Wean yourself, my friend, from sorrow,
Turn your gaze toward tomorrow.
Make this world of demons your bauble and your toy.
The path is laid with ice and stones, on the way to joy.

-Bruce Potts
Revised Copyright 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED