ON SECOND THOUGHT

These are the inward years.

Semestering is over.

Over

as well the military folderol

of orders and salutes, the titles

that defined the jobs that came

with offices and staff, junkets

to Jamaica, Lebanon and Greece

or side trips for the hell of it

to Bethlehem, Granada, Montreal,

Kilkenny, Paris and Beirut.

Tonight I try to understand

the memories I made when life

meant only going somewhere

or doing something.

But why?

Only the goer and the doer

think that going and having gone

or doing and having done

mean anything.

No matter

where I went my destination

changed to here the day

I got there.

Countries

visited, borders crossed

and strangers met have vanished

with the years.

Philosophers claim

that who we are evolves

from how we act.

I disagree.

Action for me meant doing

what I had to do‒some

of it important, most of it

routine or simply unavoidable.

Regardless, why bother matching

life with mileage, memories

and recognition?

Doings that outlive

the doers matter more.

Lincoln’s

stepmother knew how doing

should be done by schooling him

to write and read the writings

of Bunyan, Aesop and the Bible

of King James.

Had she done nothing,

Lincoln would have farmed

and died in Indiana.

Instead,

he practiced law, campaigned

for votes, became a president

and kept the states united.

Credit Sarah Johnston for that.

Historians mention her, but briefly.

Few others do.

Knowing

how women shun rewards

or praise for sacrifices made

for those they love, I think

she would have wanted it that way.

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