Pilcrow

Conviction and judgment precede
Awareness it’s a life sentence.

Oblivious, the paragraph
Begins anew. Life is wanting

More life. Desire can never be
Satiated, never—in monks,

Saints, sages, black cats fast asleep
On a red rug in pooled sun,

In anything breathing, growing,
Reaching, feeding, feeding, wasting.

Begin again. Oblivious,
The next paragraph advises

Calm in the face of dread, restraint
In the hollow stomach of need.

The quest is futile, but without
The repetition of excess

Of desire, continuation
Of the quest for more of the same

Futile, temporary relief,
Being stays uninteresting.

Oh, completely oblivious
To this, the next paragraph sings

Hymns in praise of brief existence.
Look. It’s good when it is. It is

Good enough, or could be, without
Having to live. Oblivious.