November 27, 2016 The Sunday Whirl #275 -- Sunday's Whirligig #85 -- Poet's United Poet's Pantry / Patterns of Change

Patterns of Change

as we live      we find we do things over and over     until they become patterns

patterns define us       give keys to who we are          patterns of speech

patterns of movement patterns of expression            you say you want change

change isn't easy          hard to drop old ways            over time we have become

who we are                    point to our chest                    this is who i am

like the sculptor            i have worked hard                 to become me

in all my weirdness       who is to say                 we are not like the house of cards

if one is pulled               the whole thing might fall       who can say which one

not to sound righteous     but accept me as i am           less than perfect                    

no easy way to remove          the offensive parts           cannot be cut away with scissors

swinging from your chatelaine       in church we heard       remove the plank

from your own eye      before you attempt to remove the splinter from mine     all is quiet

someone coughs in the back     the sound echoes           the liturgy continues              

i am not a sudden appearance     but rather i am a work in progress     i am not an apparition

i have been here for a long time        creating patterns     i hold the ends of the yarn

thread the shuttle        weave a life                                   in my own image

where is it written       we can ask another to change         we have been ourselves       

since we were kids       we have heard the call                      we have answered

now we are old              change isn't easy                               at any age

the day will come          we will lie flat                                     we will be food for the crows

we will begin to smell      you will recognize the change         the last change we will make

loved ones dabbing                tears from their eyes                  it will be a furtive change

the patterns we created          will be set                                    will be remembered

November 27, 2016