A COCKEYED OPTIMIST?

                                           OUR CYCLAMEN.

Outside The Oasis studio we have a small patio area(part of the Palazzo grounds.)There's a table and umbrella there so that people can relax in the sun in warmer weather.Joe lovingly tends the plants , and just before Christmas bought several  small  cyclamen in vivid shades of pink,-How they brightened the scene! We loved them , hoped that others would enjoy them, and indeed passers -by remarked how the sight of them uplifted their spirits. Then, one dark night, before Christmas Day, -----they vanished!----Someone liked them too much! I felt sick! How could anyone do this at Christmas time? After the first surge of anger I just hoped that whoever it was would feel a few twinges of regret on Christmas Day.
     We replaced the cyclamens with others just as lovely, and they continue to give simple pleasure.Maybe we placed them a little more cautiously and carefully, but---I still go on trusting.I think I dread going through  life with an increased level of introversion, suspicion and fear, -becoming more obsessive and paranoid by the minute.I suppose deep inside I still believe in the innate goodness of human beings.You can call me a fool or an impractical idealist, but I prefer to hang on to this belief with a hope and a trust,-----otherwise what else have we?

                                 COCKEYED OPTIMIST.
       I could say life is just a bowl of jello
       And appear more intelligent and smart;
        But I'm stuck like a dope
       With a thing called hope
       And I can't get it out of my heart.
                                            From 'South Pacific

'You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.'-----Frank Crane.----and Me.