Showing posts with label pride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pride. Show all posts

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Unlovely Impulses

What did envy ever do for you?
Like washing wool in hot water,
it shrank your soul. Self-shrivel.

Same goes for excess pride,
the striding great inflater, which
turns you into a boastful blimp

bound to bust up on rocks. 
Then there's greed, which morphs
your hands into grasping claws,

your mind into a maniacal mouse
in a maze, addicted to cheese.
Throw them out, reduce your

inventory of unlovely impulses.
You're the shopkeeper of your thoughts
and actions. Tidy up your shelves. 


Hans Ostrom 2024

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Angel with a Punch

I met a counter-punching angel.
She didn't strike with fists and kicks.

Glances delivered her rebukes.
So too did words full of biting angel wit.

Her effect on her targets is conclusive.
I myself felt like giving up on petty

pretense and posing pride, and at
that instant the angel's smile spread wide.


hans ostrom 2018