The heavy school bus groans
and blinks
and rolls
So it begins
(or it continues, for no doubt
it starts at home)
The inculcation of the mess we’re in
The press of lessons telling us again, again
We can’t expect to do the things we want

We’re told we don’t deserve to
and shouldn’t even ask,
We’re told its childish
and it’s selfish
and such hopes are sure to crash
against the real world
and what other people want

So we are severed from ourselves
till we no longer know
our deepest yearnings
and how they tie us
to the order of all things

Then later on we take a quest
to find out what we want,
And when we know it
we are told
we have to find a way
to compromise
to monetize
to pull out some small piece of it
that we can sell
and hope it satisfies

We’ll be so rich
when finally we come to understand
the things we want are keys —
They are the plan
for how we give our gifts,
how we receive
and how we interlock in harmony —
How we all long to serve the whole,
How doing what we want achieves this goal.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 16, 2014