if mistakes are the best teachers,
what are their teachings?

who will enjoy the fruits of these teachings?
myself, my children, my grandchildren?

why does it seem to me that
i am doing more than my share of learning?

why are others patient with me?
is it because they’re busy learning too?

if mistakes are the best teachers,
then, how come i don’t know everything?

---

for a heathen, all sunsets are alike:
_sunsets beckon him
__ to start his feast and orgy!

i’m a realist-romantic.
for me, no two sunsets are alike:
_sunsets are the kaleidoscope of my past
__and the mirror of my future!

from my past, i remember
_ surfing with the tide,
_ listening to my first conch,
_collecting my first set of seashells,
_finding my first piece of driftwood,
_cutting my feet on the volcanic rock;
__but most of all, i remember
___my first walk, hand in hand,
___with my first teenage love,
___looking down and kicking sand,
___knowing what i wanted to profess
___(since i had rehearsed it all day),
___but tongue-tied.

for my future, i see
_wisdom that only comes with age,
_calmness reserved only for ascetics,
_freedom from the ravages of hatred,
_optimism that is unfettered by experiences,
_spiritual improvement that follows from faith;
__but most of all, i see
___peace,
___a peace that comes from knowing
___that i am not a bad custodian
___of my little corner of this
___fragile patch of the universe,
___not always right,
___but right enough times
___to make my raison d’etre a +.

---

the importance
of
_a grain of sand
_______is
___dependent
on
_whether
__it is
___at the beach
___or
___in your eye.