Before adversity
before the finite variables
conspired to bring us
twixt circumstance, fate
free-will and intelligence
before the whispers of
our wounded self faltered
into the light of adulthood
before we felt truly loved
by another outside of our family
before we found what
we were truly passionate about
before we learned the Earth
ii
was an algorithm headed for
probable disaster, ruin, early graves
before we learned that meritocracy
was a myth, a name, given and taken
away from the masses long ago
before we meditated on bliss
so transcendent as to make our
personal cares irrelevant
I did not know how to appreciate
What was given, the
quality of gratitude appreciated
with our share of struggle,
iii
tragedy, drama, impoverishment
before my mother died
and I became another motherless child
I had an improbable vision of
the world and life that repeated
encounters with reality
were to correct, slowly
my sample-learning size
wasn’t extraordinary, in fact
rural living made it rather dull
before my idealism could have
been beaten down and my innate
goodwill was numbed by
the homeless sleepers, competition
poverty, heart-break, bankruptcy
student-debts, firings, lost friends
IV
= I might have been someone
You would have missed, noticed
Who knew who he was
Who knew how to hope
Who kept a little faith
Wuji Seshat 