amos

Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks – except dashes and hyphens.

a paradoxical twist

boss i ran into a

paradox the other day

and it baffled me

it was right there in

my bible all the time

and i didn t know it -

give and it shall be

given unto you -

i had read that passage

in luke six thirty-eight

a dozen times or more

but my little beady eyes

wouldn t let me get past

it this time boss

how can that be i asked

myself maybe i misread

it surely it meant - give

and it shall be taken away -

or - get and you shall receive

- or - give and you shall be

poor - or - take and you

shall prosper - or - give

and soon you shall have

nothing at all

there must be some mistake

but there it was in bold

print - give and it shall be

given unto you -

i don t understand i shook

my head and kicked the

sand how can you give and

then receive is that something

i can believe

of course you can said a tiny

voice out of nowhere to me

i turned around and looked

up and down but no one

could i see

over here said he it s

me freddy the flea it s

easy don t you see says he

no i don t says i you

sure this ain t a lie

no trust me says he

it s a paradox

where - i don t even

see any nurses

not pair of docs ya dope

paradox is something

that seems to be a

contradiction

i think you re a

contradiction yourself says i

no it s like catch-22 in

reverse says he look it s

like a spiritual principle

the more you give the more

you will be given

it s like in nature

what you sow you reap

for example says he if you

sow or give out hate then

you ll get anger and hatred

in return

looky here he said try this

test - put on a smile that s

it give it your best

now see what happens when

you smile as if you re blest

now smile at the next person

the next and all the rest

i did it boss even though i

thought he was crazy and a

little bit weird

at first it was a strain but

then it was fun i smiled at

people i smiled at the sun

then an amazing thing

happened - ugly frowns

turned into happy grins

grumbles into chuckles

and dragging feet into

twinkle-toes

what gives says me

what made those faces

glow so

you did said freddy flea

you created harmony

when you exercised your

paradox gave away your

smile and received cheesy

grins by the box

boss maybe there is

something to this thing

called paradox after all

amos