New Life, a Poem from "Jersey Blues"

Impression, Soleil Levant (Impression, Sunrise), Claude Monet,1872
Oil on canvas, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.

New Life

Don't shuffle again, brother,
— obstinately — along the old path,
walking ancient, accustomed,
tangled trails, sunk deep
in the meanders of mind:
the ruins where upon
sheer desolation is your fate.

In the obscurity, also flickers a light:
each day a dawn, and an intellect,
so that you may prevail
the misery of existence.

Princeton, New Jersey, January 2004  

From the collection Jersey Blues, also available on iBookstore, NOOK Book, and Amazon Kindle.