The Problem with Butterflies

                                                       The problem with Butterflies

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                                                                                                                     BY: Keith H. Seymour

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If I were to go back...and change the past,

I would likely “presently” change the future.

so If I went back to correct my mistakes,

and prevented myself

from

hurting...and being hurt by others,

would I be ignorant because of mistakes not learned from, or would learn from other mistakes

Maybe mistakes that.. are not as bad, or even worse..

Would I be more compassionate

and a better judge of character, or would I be hurt by... and hurt

a different set of people?

Remaining just as hurtful and vulnerable as I am now?

Is it safer to deal with the horrors of the past or to find a way to eliminate them?

So as to have the possibility of a better future without knowing...weather

our futures will be the equivalent of something

that is a comfortable coolness, a hotter hell, or a life that is just as complacent and tepid

as that current state of being?

These are problems owned by even the most beautiful butterfly.

That butterfly... flaps it's glorious wings

without knowing

the whether, wherefore, or why.

Covert Conversion

Covert Conversion
*************** BY: Keith H. Seymour
*******************
You changed me.
No, I mean it. You changed me.
I am not sure
Whether it was intentional or not.
At least, at the time
it didn’t seem that way.
I certainly did not ask you to change me.
I was just fine as I was, anyway.
You said so your yourself.
Even when we argued you said I was
an adequate person. Sometimes… a bit more.
Still... some how without my knowledge
You changed me.
You changed me,
And when we parted
I thought… even told you
You’d be happy, or maybe you just didn’t care.
Even your denial of this statement
seemed… extremely insincere.
Now, others correspond that you miss me.
Well, What right do you have to exercise
this prerogative?
I acknowledge that as a woman
You might have the right to change your mind.
You had no right however,
to change me.
Such an improvement would not normally bother me.
Except, I believe you enjoy the fact
That you knew of my sudden metamorphosis
long before I did.
I resent your change… your improvement of me.
I resent that I am here,
and you are still there.

Bahala na

Bahala Na
**********
By Keith H. Seymour
******************
Writer’s note: Bahala Na is a Filipino phrase that means “Come What May,” or “What ever God wishes for this time. It is roughly equal to the Spanish Phrase: “Que sera sera.”

Everything is copy written under my name.

Why couldn’t I tell you...
What others tried to tell me?
Why didn’t I know?
Or rather,
Why was I afraid to know… intellectually?
Though, I guess saying anything now,
Won’t matter… It is just too late.
Yet saying what I feel… is something that I must now do.

I thought time and distance
(But I was wrong)
would help me to forget
about my lack of courage… concerning a matter of the heart.
After all, didn’t you have the right to know…
and respond?
Even if you did reject me?
Then again, after all of this time
Do I have the right to let you know?
All I only know
Is that something in me impels me to confess all of this…
to you.

I know your heart has been given to someone else,
and Still, I have no regrets of knowing you as a friend.
I hope that even in the unfortunate happenstance
That we never meet again; you will still feel the same.
So please always know, that each day
I pray you experience eternal health, happiness, romance, and love.
As for any romance that may exist for me?
Well… Bahala Na.

Keith H. Seymour is a local freelance writer and poet. He may be reached at 803-233-9622, or E-mailed at keithhseymour@bellsouth.net or keithhseymour@bellsouth.net