The mind

When all that was has faded away

there is no rope to tie the mind

to the stake of present times

so it wanders through the past

touching this and touching that

like a blind man would.

There are no guidelines or directions

and no schedule or time clock

to ring the start/stop bell

and always the mind likes to surprise

with what it decides to remember.

It mingles tears with the smiles

and heartache with happiness

and dangles on a string

a variety of peculiar things

that passed at the time

with no understanding.

Intent on its quest the mind proceeds

to traverse the times that made or broke

human strength and fortitude

and I wish sometimes it would simply bow

and leave the stage of what was back then.

Not to be; the mind’s a beast

untethered and undisciplined

and now and forever will always be

the most vile and worst enemy

of the present times!