Irreconcilable Paradox

I wandered looking for an Abel and a Cain Finally the journey ended in me. As honey in a bee’s comb and venom in its sting, From man’s heart, spring nectar and poison While being an incarnation of gentleness, A sleeping dragon lies within. Sometimes a thousand stars litter my sky More often life darkens into a starless night Even when a ray of goodness lights There is an inner darkness that bites The hands that are extended to embrace in love Turn into tentacles that bind to choke A savior and an assassin cohabit in me The sweetness shown is in stark contradiction, To the daggers that are hidden within Even when I ardently preach deliverance I turn my face from the convulsions of grief And laugh at another’s punching pain Sometimes I become an oasis In the panting sterility of the desert Sometimes a snare to trap the guileless And pull them headlong into the abyss of death From a fairy God mother, the transition To an evil Witch is rather unpremeditated How fast love thistles into hatred And admiration stoops into jealousy In this strange world and in each one’s life, Such irreconcilable paradoxes abound We have an erratic mindscape That changes shape every now and then When we speak of good and bad Aren’t we showing traits of both? Thus we are walking contradictions Of a Yin and Yang of no judicious proportion! Feb. 16.2022 ~ Placed FIRST~ This or That. Vol.10. Poetry Contest Sponsor –Edward Ibeh