No Room for Jealousy

(Alexander the Great said of his childhood tutor, Aristotle, that he could classify the universe ~ but needed help finding the village square)

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Recorded Poem: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j0de1zcnh2h7bf6/no%20room%20for%20jealousy.wav?dl=0

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No Room for Jealousy

If you had wept as many tears
And in as much despair,
If there had been no place for you
For many years, nor anywhere

You felt yourself well understood
Nor any time be at your ease
And knew that what you offered
Left companions sweetly pleased

If you had wakened as I have
Every morning in such pain
And such fatigue you only wish
Return to sleep again

If you had spent life walking through
A world of strangers, some of whom
Are friends that you don’t recognize
An’ each relationship so doom

If you had gotten lost as many
Times as disoriented
I have, and afterward endured
The laughter come down on your head

By those who cannot understand
What could possibly create
Sufficient deep confusion
To make you come a whole day late

Or early for whatever was
The social schedule on
While failing to exhibit
What all the other girls have on

This decade, or this century,
For what you represent
Is ancient and is beautiful
Sufficient to resent

If you had fasted from
As many meals you eaten have
And those you ate a fraction of
You halved again in half

If you had been so cold for so long
That you cried when you got warm
Or had no place to dry once
You got soaked out in the storm

If you had opted out of fun and food
Even a place to put your head
‘Cause you held moral bankruptcy
In even greater dread

If you had faced down mortal fear
And utter hopelessness
As many times as I
And yet their perpetrators bless

Firstly, you would understand
An lot more about me
And second, there would be no room
For any jealousy

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Among us, poets are ill paid. In order to continue her work, this one currently lives in her minivan, on an income of a fraction of our nation’s poverty level. If her work has moved, enabled or uplifted you, a contribution to this effort may be made at: https://www.gofundme.com/kx4xka-are-you-a-patron-of-the-arts

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