The Longest Joke in the World

I cheated and skipped down
immediately.
Just so you know.
I fit into the
“skipped down and cheated
immediately” category.

w
v

the lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

~ Don Marquis, Archy & Mehitabel

==========
Luna Moth….

…I’d read the facts—the one week lifespan,
The way, because they do not eat,

The adults have no need of a mouth – by the time
I found the third, late last night,

High on the wall of my kitchen.
I’d had too much to drink. I spoke to it

As if it were my own Buddhist teacher
Here to teach me nonattachment,

The illusions of hunger, sex, rampant need.
I sat with it until the sun rose, toasting

Its quick beauty, then the restfulness I found
In its body and then those bright-eyed,

Translucent green wings that seemed
To breathe more and more slowly before going

Motionless. When I lifted it in my hand
I knew just how little the space was

Between myself and nothingness.

Robert Cording
==============

14th-Daili-Mothy-Ram