In these days, our discussion
of things that we have learned
seems more a list
of things we have unlearned,
misconceptions we labored under
being shattered
by life’s happenings,
pictures reconstructed from the shards
assuming strange refractions,
showing different interpretations

We learn not to prescribe, and not to judge,
not to have a monolog
that strives to teach a lesson.
Most of all, not to think
our worth depends on what we do,
and not to think our failings
will make us fail.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 18, 2018