The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

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As Water Goes

...the soul goes.

I want you
and all the others
to like me.
I want my name
to sound sweet
when spoken,
to summon smiles
from its hearer.

By now we all know
if others think well of us
that just maybe we will
think better of ourselves.

Eventually
everything goes
as water goes -
falling wherever,
filling spaces,
finding gaps,
and evaporating
into thin air.

Time is our true need,
because it offers us
abundant opportunities
to get to know ourselves
in light and darkness,
for better and worse.

Time also plants a seed
deep inside the soul,
from which one day springs
a genuine self-acceptance.