the meaning

the most bizarre thing about life
is living it.
all the mysteries unfold in countless
riddles that twist the tongue.
the baggage, the expense,
the opinionated truths,
twisted this way and that
in a confusing mass
of individual realities,
binding up the secrets,
caught at the tip of your tongue.
the lessons come and go,
new pieces to the puzzle
that never seems to end.
so many people playing make believe,
trying to pretend that there is a single way.
how many like to believe that there is
someone out there with all the answers
to make our lives come together
in the way we have always hoped
it would?
so many judgments passed.
so many wrong answers.
so many troubled minds
trying to account for
what is sane,
for what is right,
for what is true.
there is earth beneath our feet.
there is wind at our skin.
there is water to nourish.
and
there is fire to burn it all away.
we have the trees,
the mountains,
the streams,
the lakes,
the creatures.
but nothing exists
unless there is something there
to experience it.
and that is the most bizarre thing
about life.