Lackluster Life

My life has verdigris around the edges.
Part mold, part tarnish, full inattention.

I learn (and must learn) again and again
it’s as easy
if not easier
to accomplish the task
than drag it out
in angst to awful infinity,
the reward of completion so sweet.

Scrape the green all together from corners
and folds
to fashion a verdant gris-gris
the breathtaking amulet of my salvation.

‘It’s patina’, they say.
Okay.

I’d still like my talisman
to get me on my way.