Forgive Me Szymborska

• I prefer chocolate.
• I prefer music.
• I prefer facts dancing with feelings.
• I prefer Dandelion to Cherry Wine.
• I prefer trees dressed in autumn.
• I prefer keeping a notebook and pen on hand, just in case.
• I prefer the quiet of silence
• to the silence of absence.
• I prefer the color green.
• I prefer rebels.
• I prefer not to maintain
• that convenience is always convenient.
• I prefer to wake early.
• I prefer to sleep late when it’s wrong.
• I prefer talking to therapists about something else.
• I prefer used books.
• I prefer the absurdity of kids
• to the absurdity of adults.
• I prefer, where love’s concerned, nonspecific anniversaries
• that can be celebrated every moment.
• I prefer friends
• who promise me nothing.
• I prefer bittersweet compassion to everyday kindness.
• I prefer surprises.
• I prefer the earth in hand-me-downs.
• I prefer bordering countries to bordered ones.
• I prefer the hell of questions to the hell of answers.
• I prefer cats.
• I prefer dogs unleashed.
• I prefer the creased line of a Szymborska
• to the headline of a newspaper.
• I prefer the thrill of knowing to the thrill of believing.
• I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.
• I prefer laughter.
• I prefer joy to happiness.
• I prefer things I’ve forgotten to say
• to things I’ve left unsaid.
• I prefer the time of seasons to the time of stars.
• I prefer to have faith.
• I prefer ideas to movements.
• I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility
• that existence has its own raison d’être.