Sonnets for Ale
lvi.
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Right-sizing your perspective helps a lot;
proportion has a wisdom all its own.
Too many put at risk all they have got
to chew too much on one enticing bone.
A general who sacrifices lives
for little gain and when there is no need
just to make the point he so often drives
betrays his country and defames his creed.
So, too, a man, in waging his own life,
if he would win when winning does mean all,
must disregard the taunts of inner strife
by which life’s little slights hold one in thrall.
A heart that is too easy to offend
distorts one’s view of life and is no friend.
lvii.
To overlook the little slights and hurt,
the insult lurking in a careless glance,
the world’s response when even friends are curt,
allows a man to seize the greater chance.
The itch to answer each ungracious word
with long rebuttal and insistent claim
dulls vital senses by which love is stirred
and makes of life a game of constant blame.
To focus time and energy and heart
on all the things which ought to matter most,
the first leg in the race, the place to start,
is vanquishing the demons that you host.
As much as what he does is the restraint
a wise man’s mind employs against complaint.
