The Bliss of Ignorance

So it is as it has always been,

the illustrious struggle between now and then,

between the here and now, and if and when,

it happens time and time again

A mother sits down with a friend

of a friend of a distant relative,

to discuss something that must be said

about some thing that some one did,

but as she goes to clear her head

they talk about her dress instead...

A neighbor turns on the evening news

to an anchor singing the nightly blues

"Three shot over basketball shoes"

he turns to his wife to clear his head,

but talks about his work instead...

The banker denies another loan

for the house you want is not HIS home,

he claims he doesn't make the rules

as if pity is best reserved for fools

and he prefers to drink his scotch instead,

when he wants to clear his head...

A child watches a stranger weep

over someone's life they could not keep,

the baby sees that pain runs deep

but has no karma in which to reap,

and he has no words to clear his head,

so he just cries aloud instead...

All in all, it must be fate

absorbed in the chances we fail to take,

that fill the times we have to wait

for dreams themselves to actuate,

so that when we need to clear our head

we talk about the rain instead...

Thus it is as it has always been,

the illustrious struggle between if and when,

between the here and now, and the now and then,

it happens time and time again...