How does government change?

You say things are poised to change now,

There's a new breeze blowing through the halls of Parliament. 

But does that mean that 

you will stop running red lights

just as if they were guidelines and not rules?

Does that mean you'll stop bribing cops

for busting you when you talk on the phone and drive

or when you drive while you're drunk

when you're 17.

Does that mean that you will start loving your kids with love

and not money 

and set the example of treating everyone alike-

your parents, and your siblings

and their spouses, 

and their children,

and your children's friends

and the kids they call their enemies

and their parents

and the teachers your kids like

and the ones they don't,

all because we are all human

and live once,

without a manual of how to go about it 

and without a hope of keeping everyone happy

all the time

including ourselves?

You say things are poised to change now,

There's a new man in the Seat 

But does that mean that there's a new man

in you?

Shards of Time and Soul

I haven't written

In a long, lonely while.

But does that mean

I cease to be 

(a writer)?

I haven't loved

In a splendid stretch

Of an endless summer.

But does that mean

I've forgotten

How?

It's been many moons

Since I was 

The kind of someone

I once was

But does that mean

One me is lost

And I must now know

Another?

Notes to Self

Learn to knit
Like your grandmother does.
You may have more than just
The shape of her hands;
You might just have
Her art.

Learn to see
Through your mother's eyes.
You may get more than
The fate of becoming her eventually;
You might just have
Her heart.

Learn your father's trade.
You may never need
To follow his footsteps
Or sit in his chair;
You'll know what it takes
To play his part.

Learn to laugh
In your sibling's voice
At the same, little things,
Together, unreservedly,
Without judgement
And you'll never fall apart.