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*

today I felt the need,
the need to move away;
this place is much too close
and reeks of yesterday.

you say I should prefer
to outlast, to endure
– not clamor to escape
the demons at the door;

but it’s not the same as running –
there’s a diff’rence between flight
and the things you have to do
to get back to the light.

I originally wrote a version of the above haiku a long while ago. This one’s different only in that I’ve changed two words (actually, just the same word changed twice) — and I’ve put it in handwriting (because that’s what I do these days).

As you might suspect, this haiku was born of heartbreak — something I’ve experienced once or twice in my life. Unlike some of the more useless poetry I’ve spawned, this one harbors what I consider to be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about love (or being “in” it).

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(with a tip of the hat to J.R.R. Tolkien)

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the wisest of words
can slip unexpectedly
from the lips of fools

don’t ruin yourself
pursuing the ones who want
something you are not

*
I still remember in high school when, as a young fan of Billy Shakespeare, I first realized that a few of my favorite words of wisdom were penned for a character who struck me as an utter fool. That character was, of course, Polonius from the play Hamlet, and this haiku references one of his most famous lines (“To thine own self be true”).

The incongruity of it fascinated me, that a line of such wisdom would be spoken by a blithering imbecile. That said, I am aware there are those who believe Polonius’s character was smarter than he appeared and that the dimwit act was done to curry favor with King Claudius. Which, in a way, may be even more ironic.