The Difference Poem by Richard Phipps

Words and letters thrown haphazard 'cross a table.
Some deal in truth, others strictly in fable.

If given the chance to do it over again,
would you do it differently, if you knew the end?

You know you would win, but without the gamble.
No life lost in the scramble of some misleading ramble.

Worn steps lead to the door of this place often traveled.
Some mysteries unfold, the more difficult unravel.

Life's game is in placing the clues altogether,
making sense of it all by putting two and two together.

We're tenants on an endless stretch of land.
No one owns a thing, no one takes away anything.

Renters of a space and a time and a place,
that over turns it's bogus masters, every ten decades or so.

Remember the good things, forget the bad.
If you waste time on misgivings, you're bound to be had.

Temporary paradise, permanent disgrace,
lingering loneliness, forever bad taste.

The difference between Earth and Mars,
is the space between seven seconds and seventy years.

Neither hospitable, one quick, one slow.
Lessons learned too late - you know?

April 28,2006