Practical

Mom was practical.

She defined herself as a practical person.

Hope I’m not a member of the practical club.

I have too much trouble with practical questions.

If asked perhaps the most practical of questions;

“What to do with your life”

Would you speak of knowledge, success,

Places or people?

Would it be “practical” to follow your forebears,

Or should we aim to rise, fall, twist and reach,

To seek an impassioned encounter with 

A source of joy?

If “practical” yields to “safe” what price will be paid?

Could we carry the thought to “happy”

With all the attendant risks,

And is “happy” a path or a destination?

Can we comfortably separate those two.

Or is there merely the “way”, leaving destination

As a fantasy that we toss at children

In an attempt to suggest there can be “arrival”

I once suggested that a year of travel

Would offer more than a year of school.

My son, disagreed, and started college.

My mother would have approved.