comfort and taxes

strange to think of Joseph worrying

about transporting his very pregnant wife

when she ought to have been pampered instead of uprooted

by an unyielding government ruling

that all the world should be taxed

just like us with petty but nagging

concerns for the well-being

of those we love that nudge

then jolt us with the truth

of our own inadequacy

to do what we ought, let alone

what we want

supercilious

‘we’ were so certain when i was small

that formula was superior to breast milk

without recognizing individual needs

of specific infants

that asphalt would make better roads

more traffic, more commerce

without realizing the runoff would pollute streams

or the dark surface would contribute to global warming

that ‘greed is good’ was local only

without imagining that the quest for

more and yet more did little good

even for the greedy one accumulating

ah, if we could approach our being

with a bit of humility, of awareness

of so much greater than ourselves

because we may be late in finally

accepting our arrogance is killing us

too wonderful for me

our minds conquer

time and distance

to maintain connection

to loved ones

in physics

there is an odd, instantaneous

connection between some far-

separated particles that makes

no more sense

and yet is true

each time we think we know

perhaps it would be better

to smile to ourselves

and admit we could still be awed

by reality