Wonder(ful)
written by: Joseph Mannino
I am not joyful, but on joy, I subsist
Haphazardly built from gelatinous clay
Jealousy for junkies awash in the haze
Just biding my time ’til the end of the day
Love is not bountiful, yet bounty remains
Transcendent beyond every mortal restraint
Binds of my love expand exponentially
Joining every sinner, each savior, and saint
You are not beautiful, but beauty itself
Not merely just a vessel for the sublime
You are the very concept in the abstract
Divinity derived from all that’s divine
Faith is not merciful, yet mercy persists
Ensconced deep in every myth of the ages
Mysteries are born and die in the meantime
While only the best get scribbled on pages
Echoes are not soulful but still contain soul
Hallowed resonance so skillfully obtained
Shadow of memories shatter the records
Breathing life into the partially restrained
Regret is not helpful, yet help still endures
Angels harangue all the misguided masses
Shepherds deliver the meek and the feeble
Through the passage where the regretful passes
Nothing is artful without art to be made
Built in some aesthetically pleasing way
Inspired often by the unremarkable
Broken hearts and naked souls left on display
Oh, the forgetful who forget to forgive
Their pity forged in an ephemeral mold
Indifference and adolescence abound
Masks insecurities neither bought nor sold
Where do the mournful obtain something to mourn?
Ghosts haunt the miserable without delay
Invading vacuous interstellar space
Burning all the ashes of cosmic decay
Sadness so awful, yet still, our awe lingers
Rubbernecking along this ho-hum highway
Incapable of averting hungry eyes
Callously hindering our friends, we betray
Condemns all the thoughtful for having a thought
Chaos of the theatrically absurd
Delivering redemption ahead of guilt
Choking on every hypocritical word
Everything insightful may yet still incite
Beyond every imperceptible domain
Penance for the wicked is so watered down
Without acknowledging any bloody stain
Happiness is powerful; power sustains
Every problem that refuses just to die
Upon this faulty altar of religion
Clinging to ritual too hard to deny
Lives of the fruitful can still bear rancid fruit
Heartbreak for the hopelessly optimistic
Faithful find little left to bring them comfort
Despite the faith bleeding from the artistic
Eternally tearful with no tears to spill
Moment to moment getting torn asunder
Companions championed by lives fully lived
Delusional becomes the distant wonder
Through all this wonder, we find the wonderful
Measured without deceitful thumbs on the scale
Nobody’s without their shallow shortcomings
Serenity of joy will always prevail
- Wonder(ful) - May 19, 2022
- Spotlight On Writers – J.S. Mannino - April 16, 2022
- Rest Stop of Babel - January 31, 2022
