Black Notebook, Untitled 01

How do you expunge all thought?

The battles that you've fought,

the visits to far-off places

and the people of those spaces.

Their faces. Those chases...

Good intention: the cleaver,

the devil's golden retriever.

Of good actions that go foul

or friendships that throw in the towel.

Dependence on others is a Rich man's option,

whether they reciprocate or alleviate

hinges on the auction.

Not to be confused with the trusty oxen

the Poor man's livelihood,

a celebrated adoption.