Neither Here Nor There

Before they come to bleach my bones,

let’s talk about

a few things less pretty.

After all, there is more beauty

in the carefully folded stems of discarded daisy chains

and empty chairs at restaurant tables

than I had previously thought.

I wonder if he could have imagined those things,

kicking the dust from his sandals

before he had his future figured

as a martyr.

But maybe that’s neither here nor there.

Now that that’s out of the way, we can talk about my ego.

The asshole likes to walk around in public

in his trendy clothes

and spout clever clichés

like, “That’s neither here nor there.”

He is a fool and a braggart

but I can’t deny that sometimes

he’s good company.

So where were we?

Ah, yes, all that ugliness.

You see, there is nothing that is truly

neither here nor there.

So where were we?

Ah, clever clichés.

You see, all wise men know that they know nothing,

and that we always have more to learn.

Maybe that’s why there’s no perfect human teacher.

Maybe the truly wise don’t teach.