Equilibrium

There must be balance
in the life that we now lead
lest there be an imbalance, and all falls into disarray
and we are lost in mindless squalor
to escape from the chatter
of beings that have become mindless abstractions
Conniving to distract
from our inward bound endeavors
and to come yet again,
back into the light from the dark crevices of thoughts deep within.
Without one, the other becomes a void
into which we have fallen
given into that which has engulfed us like a mighty ocean
with no dike to hold back the crashing breakers.
For there must be the dry land,
that rests on heaving, living water
The tunnels left open for the rushing sensation to flow as free as the open sky
while at times, there is the dank murkiness of desolation.
And then too, there is empathy,
that cannot be sought, but is found in one place that is closest
To bring equal weight to the practicalities
solutions to every problem
And so, without these, hope there is none,
For the walls have been broken.

Dubliners

"He knew that he would regret in the morning but at present he was glad of the rest, glad of the dark stupor that would cover up his folly. He leaned his elbows on the table and rested his head between his hands, counting the beats of his temples. The cabin door opened and he saw the Hungarian standing in a shaft of grey light: "Daybreak, gentlemen!" " - James Joyce "After the Race"

"He turned back the way he had come, the rhythm of the engine pounding in his ears. He began to doubt the reality of what memory told him. He halted under a tree and allowed the the rhythm to die away. He could not feel her near him in the darkness nor her voice touch his ear. He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone." - James Joyce "A Painful Case"


"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the soul falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, the decent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." - James Joyce "The Dead"