This I Believe

As I approach my mid-century mark

I believe in the poetry of life’s paradoxes,

Where wisdom resides in juxtaposition and

Clarity and obscurity sit side by side.

My life’s most profound and meaningful experiences

Draw depth from their contradictions.

The pain of labor begets the glory of birth.

Only in bearing my soul do I realize

The reward of passionate human exchange.

I have learned that the darkness of overcoming

Produces the light of heightened consciousness for self and others.

I’m awed by my inherent need to change

opposed by the safety sought in resistance.

Grappling with how much fate affects my choices

And my choices affect my fate,

I live with a relentless desire to know the unknowable.

I reluctantly yield to my human limitations

In fully comprehending my experience of life.