This and That

Happiness has limits,

Suffering has none

Darkness can blind

as can the sun.

Truth can be bitter

lies often sweet,

Victory's sibling;

Undervalued defeat.

Sometimes neglect

is safer than care,

Foul can be handled

better than fair.

Plumage is flattery

so is a kiss,

Lowly the cat

at chimney-top piss.

Nose and eyes

look down on mouth,

North wind is bitter,

deadly the south.

A hearth has two sides

fire between,

ripe black banana

better than green?

With duck quill in hand

where writes the sage

Is the verse better

in margin or page?

Freedom is complex

slavery plain,

where is the healer

without pain?

Futures left lying

in old men's wills,

Life is a trial,

Death cures all ills.