Ifs And Suggestions

Ifs and Suggestions / Joshua Alan Sturgill

1: if you wander
age-long afternoons
listless, half-ashamed

or wonder who
— if anyone —
will meet you at the terminal

when the sun sets
2: if you mistrust beauty
— wolf and butterfly opposed

in this doorless world
of things (though
somehow aren’t they unified?

symbols of your soul’s
impulsive search?)
3: if you fail in your prayers

again, bless your pillow and
your toothbrush and fall
asleep. Tonight

burns in secret
new paths toward tomorrow’s
honesty