There’s something I’ve learned being sick:
the acquired tastes are best.
And no, I don’t mean exotica.
I’m talking about the everyday magic
we avoid because, at least initially,
we are repulsed by its flavours,
or even its scent, before having partaken
of its rich benefit. I have found
that all enduringly good things
are initially unpleasant, even repulsive,
but that with time our bodies
grow to cherish them,
even to relish in their basks: And likewise,
whatever is immediately alluring and
instantaneously gratifying
loses its lustrous appeal
immediately, soon as it is gone,
and leaves even behind
a sickly aftertaste
in whose filth and glow
we seek another freedom,
turning, like fools, again
to what induced our agony in the beginning
all along. So, to forsake
the now for tomorrow
is to achieve
the now
tomorrow.
12/25/2016
Richmond