April 6, 1977 Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri

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The Poetry is Gone

We live in two worlds
That which is
And that which was
When that which is
Is not so good
And that which was
Is
Then when elements of that which was
Show their faces in that which is
We are happy for a while.

I've always dwelt in that which was.
Although I know that in order
To fully emerge into one's existence
as a whole being,
One has to incorporate the essences
of that which was
Into the reality of that which is.

Wondering if I'm ever going 
To be able to do that
Has always grated my mind
And glutted all my victories
By sending calm memories
To erase present cruelties.

In order to forget the wrongs
One has to meld the rights
And keep insisting humanity is kind
The past was kind.

It's easy
(Especially when a friend
from that which was)
Relates that I've got to give in
And straighten up.
And answer all those questions.
And quit closing the door
all the time.

But is humanity kind after all?

I've always said
that we only grasp our own beings
That by nature we are selfish
That we never realize
that the person 
who sits across from us on the bus
or who asks for the time
Is as much a real person
As we are.

Yet, I always search for these
Real people
And I open myself up
And I crave the truth.

I never get the truth.

Or

Is it that I won't accept it.

(Everybody needs beliefs in order to survive.
From earliest mankind, there has always
had to be something to believe in.
As mankind progressed, human nature
Dictated that there would be more
Beliefs because everybody could not
believe the same thing.
Thus, every source of belief linked
to the supreme knowledge has been
worshipped.
The world has many religions
The world has many alternative religions
The world has many correct doctrines
And, I know, some misleading doctrines
The wonder, though, is that
though members of one sect might 
believe fanatically that the rigors
of religiosity they are given
are true: they do not believe
in anything else
I think this is sad.
A human being has the quality to
reason and to dissect and to 
determine truths and yet so many
people believe in only one belief
simply because the elders of their
sect are narrow minded.
I am sure that just because
something is only recently discovered
by science doesn't mean it 
didn't exist before it was discovered.)

1977

copyright 1999-2004 by Michael F. Nyiri
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