perception is how you are treated,

not who you are, said the wise man

to the simple one who asked:

but it feels good to be liked!

and had trouble differentiating

between a heavy truth versus a shallow laugh

because everyone could see

how nice it must be to have it all.

so the simple man went about his ways to

collect treasures of the earth,

clothed himself with them

with fake friends praising him, flattering, brown nosing

till perception became reality.

but he wasn’t happy, he wasn’t satisfied,

but he could not say it out aloud

because you see, perception was everything

and he did not want the groveling to end.

it felt good, till it no longer did

when the chants, the songs, the paradise

felt wrong.

so search for the wise man he did,

could not find his whereabouts though

he searched high and low.

where could he be?

wearied, fatigued, beaten from lack of luck

he stopped by the river

and there he saw the wise man

when he had shed off his former self,

that filled not.

perception was not everything,

it never touched the man, the individual, the soul

and isn’t that everything?