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Purple Impulses
by Ken HarnischToo much to say
Too little inclination to do so
I am learning, late as usual,
That it is sometimes better to
Be thought dumb by being mute
Than proving I am by opening
My mouth.
And how refreshing is it
Not to know all there is,
Or, if knowing, having
Finally made the climb
To Mt. Sagacity and realizing
Some things need never be said
Makes me a secret-keeper,
About which I’m mighty ambivalent;
It will now take vast stores of energy to
Squelch those purple impulses
Rampant in me to tell my
Life story to strangers
On a subway train
Or to tell yours to
People we know so
They can understand
You were neither saint
Nor sinner in the biopic
They’re making of your life.
But if I learn this one final lesson,
When to be like a stone
In public gatherings, then
At last, I will have reached nirvana
Not sure it was on my bucket list
To begin with, but like anything
Else in life, you can always scratch
Off one thing and go for something else.
The power of free will is amazing, no?
11/13/2011 Posted on 11/13/2011
Copyright © 2026 Ken Harnisch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Alison McKenzie on 11/13/11 at 06:09 PM You speak of a lesson I was faced with over a decade ago when I watched someone I knew benefit from keeping quiet. So many outward conditions are avoided in silence. I told myself at the time that there must be a price to keep your own secrets, but I've learned since then there can be a price when you're open as well. Very nicely said, and something I've strangely never written about - glad you did. |
| Posted by Kristine Briese on 11/13/11 at 07:59 PM A lesson we should all learn. And another brilliant poem. |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 11/13/11 at 08:05 PM There are few things I'm interested in keeping secret and the one secret that I do keep is so I don't see my children, now adults, hurt. At least that is what I tell myself. Good write Ken. |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 11/13/11 at 10:19 PM Pretty astonishing. As is this poem in general. |
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