As it is said,
through the bleak
and hollow laugh
whereby we
accommodate
the grimmest truths,
that no good deed
shall go unpunished,
so it is that everything
of light and beauty
carries close behind
its shadow self. Thus
it is that the price
of love shall be grief
and the gall of grief
shall match within
the mirror the light
and beauty of that
love. Such is the
symmetry that pairs
the seasons, gives
the sun its heat,
the moon its ice
and takes us from
our mother’s arms,
along our way of
chance or choice
and so to sleep.