Jack Pelham

If it’s not working,
Should I keep trying
Or should I quit?

If I could get you to care enough
About these matters
Of world-class importance—

If I could get you to
Dream your own dreams about them,
Rather than merely to lean on mine—

I told you I couldn’t
Hold out much longer
On my own,
And that I have to have help
Or I’ll crash and burn soon.

But I’m afraid that you
Didn’t really understand
That I was serious about that.

I have never been content
To busy myself with the mundane
Things of this world.

And, truth be told,
It’s fairly obvious
At this point
That I’m not likely
To start anytime soon.

You can talk about the deep things
With your friends,
But most aren’t very good at it.

If you really want to know the man,
Look at what he will tolerate
And what he won’t.

Did you know
That your feelings
Can be wrong?

It seems there’s generally always
Somebody trying to take a new stab
At bolstering the notion that
People who don’t do anything substantial
To stop evil can themselves be good.

It’s a shame that in high school,
When we had so much time for it,
We didn’t know much about how
To get to know each other better
Than we did.

If someone had taught us that,
We might have come out
With more good friendships,
And with more maturity,
With which we might have
Enjoyed them better.

When the man is finally corrected
And put in his place by his Maker,
I suspect that the lion’s share of
What he learns in that session
Will be the certainty of things
He already knew.