everybody wants to be the exception

when lightning hits,

when thunder roars,

the gods are angry though not at me.

everybody wants to escape accountability

when the auditors audit,

when the home inspector inspects,

the findings are bogus, wrong, bent out of shape.

everybody wants a free ride

when the work load is heavy,

when the desert heat begins to distort vision,

the footsteps are heavy, deliberate, careful.

everybody wants a friend to be there in down times,

when the sky has fallen,

when the earth has opened up, swallows up the living

the dismal cries is shut off abruptly.

everybody wants to go to heaven,

when mortal life can be terrifying,

when the temporal nature of good times flees,

the weight of the soul is heavy, easily dismissed for neurosis.

everybody wants to make a transaction

when the odds favor them,

when the home run belongs to them,

the other party gets less when it is a zero sum game.

everybody wants to be loved unconditionally,

when it means heaven on earth,

when it means lucky strike,

the logic, emotions, instincts are all quite intact – it makes sense.

nobody wants to be

the one who loves, the one who sacrifices, the one who is accountable,

hard work with even tougher audits, scrutinize away,

to burn the midnight oil, to toil, to suffer, to go the extra mile,

and then more miles, to go past the desert, to endure,

to be that other party unless they do not have a better choice.

unless they are thrown into the pit of fire,

unless they are swaddled and riddled with ice,

unless they are forged, hammered, compressed,

unless they are broken, crushed, destroyed,

when i disappears,

when i fades,

and exceptions come about after the fire, after the trials, after the sculptor

has finally done his work.