Life Is Too Complex For A Single Poem Poem by Shalom Freedman

Life is too complex for a single poem-
In the course of a single day
How many moods and contradictions?
How many problems and worries at once?
How many little joys and perceptions
Of so varied kinds?

Yesterday for the first time I saw a grandchild smile-
I heard someone I was a carer for will probably soon die-
I danced at a wedding,
And felt again my failure in making money through the years-

So many contradictions
And yet when there is a life
And when a new baby smiles and grimaces,
How sad and beautiful how painful and rich
How defeating and hope-filled
Our life can be-