Lesson

When fed by darkness,
seek the tiny lights within it;

when fed by light,
seek the small darkness therein.

No one lives on one or the other
alone, at least not well:

muscles are built from striation
and stress; 

lungs must learn to breathe
both hard and softly.

The jewels in this living
that is sober as often as it is drunk

are always there to be found
as long as you know how to look

no matter the sorrow or the ecstasy
that can blind you to them.