Melancholy and Joy

I.

Melancholy and joy, like oil and water,

do not combine (like water in a bath

of acid). The twain never do

meet in a single psyche,

a single soul,

a single

mind,

II.

or in a single life like mine. And often

in between are vast tracts of gray,

of feeling from day to day

so numbed from my

daily sacrifice of

seeing my

life

III.

slip away from me like water out of

my hands, like life-giving blood

leaving my capillaries

and veins in sickle cell

disarray even

on Sabbath

days.

IV.

Melancholy and joy, this competing twin

(of heaven and hell), have no

purgatory for me: I either

ascend into bliss; or

I descend into

a burning

ashtray.

By Ngoc Nguyen

From: United States