YARA LANDRE MARQUES

INSIDE

Inside I fantasize and pretend

To never be deceived or destroyed

By forces unknown

Or love's vagaries

Indestructible I remain

Till death comes my way

And my body decays

Until that glorious day

Inside I cradle my soul

Protecting my psyche and emotions

From those who might destroy

Whatever freedom I have left

I choose to be left intact

A paramount of strength and fortitude

Against life's vicissitudes

I choose solitude

Inside is outside reversed

Where I've lived too long

Protected from no one

Whom might wish me harm

I now realize the irony

Of shelf-righteous retreat

For all who dare cheat

And in the end suffer defeat

A. KEITH BARTON

THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME

                                                                                

THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME

Though leaves are many, the root is one;

Though all the lying days of my youth

I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;

Now I may wither into the truth

W. B. YEATS