I can't get you everything

 An attempt at poetry. I am not a poet but I can write it. Or at least feel it. Which is what poetry is. Feeling. Columbus Day, 2020.

 I can't get you everything,

But I will try to give you a lot.

A lot to me, and a lot to others, might not be so much to you.

 But, you will realize, I gave you my share. 

Then again, knowing what I know, maybe I did not give you enough.

Time, sharing, conversing, contributing, effort, working, sweating, piddling around...

There's a lot to give.

How can I give it all away? 

If I gave everything, all the time, everyday, would there be enough for me?

 

And it's not just you.

I've got bosses, and bills, and likes, and habits and vices, and dreams and voices to answer to.

So, from that point of view, I still believe that I gave you a lot.

I gave my share, and maybe then some.

Giving and taking are two way streets, or even three ways with the funky rotaries or round-abouts that we come across more and more... Mostly in automated vehicles.

There are many ways that giving and taking come and go.

I take my share; and have been given a lot, too.

 Cultures everywhere give and take, they have their uber-energies of acquiring and sharing.

We have our own personal cultures; I have mine and you have yours.

those cultures interplay; we dally between them.

Some give and share more than others.

Individuality is a constant in a collective such as we share in our grand universe.

 

So there is the question of everything, and in that great sense,

By giving you freedom I have given you everything.

Nevertheless, it was not I who gave you this freedom, this liberty, this agency to make choices and choose left and right, up and down...

No, this gift of life is much bigger than me, grander than you: God and the universe itself are to credit and blame.

Ultimately, it's giving of me that you require, that you notice, giving and sharing of what I possess.

And hopefully that's enough.

For now, I give you what I can. Not everything. But quite a lot.

I can promise you that I will give to you in the future, tomorrow and beyond.

In this poem, this evocation of feeling, I show you a bit of it.

Converse with me, read with me, listen with me, dance with me, laugh with me...

Cry. Cry alone. Cry with me.

I see and feel your tears; that is one thing I know I have gotten you.

My empathy.

 

And, I feel you.

I may not share and give you all, I do not get you and afford you everything, but I get you, without fully understanding all, I feel you and your happiness and fears and hopes.

I share, you share; this poetry goes on and on as we share this universe and the freedom and constraints of everything.

I can't get you all of it, but I offer what I can.

I offer you my time and patience, my commitment and small gifts.

Freedom, love, laughter, and calculated toil.

 I can't get you everything

But I  will indeed, give you a lot.

Thank you for sharing those things with me. Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

In the end, it was everything, to me. Even this, these feelings today.

You.

Me.

That's all.