Too Many Hats
L. Kathleen Mathis 8/98
How can just one soul,
one mind,
one person,
contain such a multitude of faces,
such a myriad of needs?
Swirling all around me,
overloading perceptionary feeds,
I fall apart a moment
on the knees of a weary soul
to gather up a listing
of all the parts that are me, whole.
I am woman,
I am child,
I am wife,
and mother, too.
Failed daughter,
favored niece
to the one who saw me through.
I am artist,
I am student,
in college and
at work.
How many hats to carry
when there's not one
that I can shirk.
I am body,
I am mind,
heart and spirit
in one form bound,
all demanding answers
not easy to be found.
There's passion
and there's sorrow;
pain and gladness, kin
madness and sanity,
righteousness
and sin.
Intellect,
emotion
conscience and id;
athlete and activist
all for my time do bid!
Role of lover
Role of friend,
Guide to those I must support.
How many more to add on to this wearisome report?
Dreamer and realist
healing from the past;
can't let what is behind me
become my psyche's cast.
Did I forget to mention
how I once loved to explore?
Reduced to wading through dirty clothes
of the ones that I adore...
So many tasks to tend to
but which ten should I place first?
It's not a play, there is no script
this scene is not rehearsed!
I've just one choice on how to use
each moment of the day.
How am I
supposed to choose
from all those voices I give sway?
The inventory lengthens
and I hope the end may be at hand.
Then I hear a simple word
to which my ear attends.
Me.
It's all I'll ever be
when my days are at an end.
I stop and give that moment
a considerable pause,
and realize quite suddenly
my faulty logic's flaws...
When all my hats are taken
from my hand on that last day,
what will remain of me?
"Not much" I have to say!
When I am gone, there'll be naught left
but the hats I leave behind
What I make them now's my legacy;
to the details I must mind.
So I guess I'd best be busy
and return to juggling these hats
I'm realize now the beauty
in these prologues to my past.
Main Page
Ditties: Just a few poems!
The Healer: A spiritual love poem
Obsession: The passion that consumes from a distance
To the Keeper of My Heart: A little note
Hint of a Blush: Remembering when - with a blush
Dream of the Dancer
Absolution: repentance and moving on
Futility
Raging: The aftermath...
Unknowing: Wondering...
Night's Passing: When it's time to let it go...
Morning Dewdrops
Irreplaceable You
Patterns of Sorrows
Ghosts
My "Fit": A poem for Janet.
Curves: Seeking that Fit
Too Many Hats
Soul's Cry
The Battlefield Within: Insights to the Soul
Tributes to the glory of nature:
Winter's Kiss: The touch of winter
The River
Dawning
Indigo Night
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Kathleen
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elaith@bellsouth.net
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