suggestion

take it from someone whose woolgathering

has only garnished partial success,

who’s ambitious but doesn’t expect god

to come walking through the door,

when i say that some questions aren’t polite to ask,

who contests that lot’s wife did bother to look ahead,

from someone whom the teacher only called upon

when he hadn’t done his homework,

didn’t know the answer,

whom the night as if it were an adult dispensing wisdom

keeps reminding that he’s had enough of light,

enough of sight,

when i tell with self-effacement and enough élan

that some make too much fuss of the short run,

others of the long run

and that they’re both equally right and wrong,

from someone who hasn’t had the disposition

to endure inquiries, ritual humiliations,

who’s had little else worthy of mentioning

to others and to himself

c. a. campos, 2008