Credo

Do you believe in laughter held in truth,

In knowing that words spoken find their mark,

That a look, a touch, the gentlest hand may form

A smile that grows within, ignites a spark?

 

Do you believe that gladness grows inside,

Overflows to others open to

Receiving joy as recompense for living

When its trials and labours overwhelm and threaten you?

 

Do you believe that hurting ends in time,

That inner worlds are balanced by all love,

That questions yet unanswered cause a thrill,

Their discoveries a golden treasure trove?

 

Do you believe that somewhere inside light

The heart of matter hides a great reveal,

That nothing happens without cause effect

And perceptions make our own world feel what’s real?

 

Do you believe that logos is the word

Or that words alone confuse a greater thought,

That lips that speak the lies betray the way

And sometimes guidance dwells in what’s not sought?

 

Do you believe in fairies and in trolls,

In monster lochs where hidden depths conceal,

Do you believe in equine wings and angels,

In many wondrous stories though unreal?

 

Do you believe in suspending disbelief

To enter into fantasies that pleasure

While still inside you know factual from dream

But recognise you owe some childlike measure?

 

Do you believe that living is worth living,

That each breath you take admits a purpose here,

That nothing’s yet decided or completed

And that only you can change your greatest fears?

 

Do you believe in worlds you find in books,

In scenes unfolding on the movie screen,

In comic superheroes who astound,

Unveiling attributes too rarely seen?

 

Do you believe the essence of all stories

Conveys some truth distilled to purest form,

That much of what we honour most in tales

Are aspirations we would wish as norm?

 

Do you believe that children hold the key,

That complications thwart our best intentions,

That simplicity and innocence are essential to all meaning

To underwrite and clarify the best of lessons?

 

I do.

 

Advertisement

Simplicity

Complications blow my mind!

A simpler truth I seek to find.

It lets my thoughts free to unwind.

In simplicity, I feel less blind.

 

Every time I hear a row

I question why and even how

It started, then I thus avow

To settle it right here and now.

 

Questions seek the lowest form,

Ingenuous answers that conform

To unassuming, artless norm, so

Unpretentious keeps me warm

 

Naivete is viewed as flaw,

Artlessness leaves others raw,

Seeking as they do a straw

To cling to oscillating yaw.

 

I’d rather hear the simple truth.

I’ve been this way from as a youth.

Complications are uncouth,

A mask for those long in the tooth.

 

Straightforward solutions satisfy,

Resolutions do not decry

Minimalist treasures we espy.

So seek to simplify.

 

Nature’s wonderful creation

Fills my soul with such elation,

Complicated configuration,

Portrayed in guileless adoration.