Then What?

Then What?

Diamonds fade over eons
Their value reflecting their scarcity

Then what value desire?

Manuscripts perish in the sunlight
Their words lost for all time

Then what value words?

Dreams can dissipate with waking
Losing their substance through forgetfulness

Then what value imagination?

Honesty can be hard to find in dark times
Solitude may slip into loneliness

Then what value friendship?

Players’ may steal your interest & energy
From behind their grotesque mask of platitudes

Then what value trust?

The morning may arrive with dread
Greeted by the tired eyes of the lost & anxious

Then what value sleep?

Tomorrow may seem too far ahead to hope for
Yesterday too far behind to see clearly

Then what value the present?

The eyes may be hard with insincerity
The words cutting like a stiletto

Then what value the smile?

Touching with love may be a distant memory
Being touched with love a distance too far

Then what value hugs?

Everything lost through the shifting of realities
Absence of everything is now all you feel

Then what value life?

Pain suffered in silence behind the mask of okay
Others being put first in the order of interest

Then what value care?

Giving to receive over giving to forget
Neither a value exchange of worth or mention

Then what value altruism?

Evaluating usefulness in the interview of life
What’s in it for me, is the unsaid mantra of most

Then what value self-worth?

Eyes blinded by the many that will drink your soul
Lids closing from the effort to see the signs

Then what value patience?

The butterfly that lands when you are settled and calm
The songbird that sings only when you listen
The presence of love in the soul of the world
The connections that bring a love that tames distance
The hope that one soul transfers to another
The questions all answered in the simplicity of a smile
The care that is spoken between the words heard
The together that is shared across maps of the globe
The pain that is shared with the twinning of souls
The hope that is gifted from living
The promise of certainty that can renovate a heart
The knowledge that you are not alone
The days and nights that merge into bliss
The significance that comes from being seen
The love that is imparted between the lines
The code is the language of the world
The time is always now
That which has passsed is simply ashes
That which feeds us today is the fire that burns right now

This is your heart

        This is your hope

                 This is your love

                           This is your life

                                      This is your today

                                                This is your choice

                                                    This is your significance

                                                                 This is your certainty

                                                                                 This is your path

This is your value

© Iain Merchant 2020