fifty-three bottles of beer.
take one down
pass it around
fifty-two bottles of beer on the wall
life is changing before our eyes.
document it as you will:
take those pictures
record those moments
files those thoughts
and those feelings away
in the slots of your brain
but know this-
it won't stay the same.
the feelings
and thoughts
attached to that piece of memory
will never be the same.
and that is because we grow
and change as human beings.
there are some of us,
however that are incapable of change
believing themselves so right
so fucking on top of the world
that they will never change.
remain immature
remain ignorant
remain in that shelled world of yours.
stay with those around you
those of your kind.
you will never know pain as I have known pain.
you will never understand suffering
fear
doubt.
you may think yourself lucky
that you know none of those
that you will never experience those.
however I think of you as
cursed as unenlightened
as naive
as primitive
as unable to open your eyes to what matters
to what is important in life.
go on
live your life as you always have
thinking it is so difficult
just because one morsel of food
is not laid out for you.
you will never know to scrounge for it.
go wallow
and complain at the many hours
you may work
but then spend it all on frivolities
because there are no bills to pay
no rent to keep with
no tuition fees to concern yourself with.
think your classes are difficult
that they take from your fun in life
but then forget that there are some
who are not even able to afford higher education
and without their hours
would have nothing to eat at home.
[47th & University Way]
on my way back from buying art supplies
i run into a homeless man asking passerbys for spare change.
i haven't carried any cash with me since i stopped working in restaurants.
i smile apologetically
and say "i'm sorry. i don't have any."
what i always say to those who ask me for change.
i run into those kinds of people a lot.
i assume things-
that they will use it for alcohol
cigarettes
drugs.
but he looks at me
this old, old man and smiles.
he says, "don't be sorry about it, pretty girl.
if you don't have any, that's fine.
you have a nice day now."
it takes me by surprise sometimes
how much i judge people
how much i assume about them
how much i think i know them
when in reality
i know nothing at all.
i was no one to assume those things
and yet i did.
i try not to judge people
not to set my initial impressions of them in concrete.
but lately, i've been forgetting that.
it's a new year for everyone.
i think it's time to tuck away that old drawing pad
and pull out some fresh sheets
to sketch my world on.
여러분 - 새해 복 많이 받으세요.
