Joe I really enjoyed writting this poem and also learned a lot myself Thank you

Your opening quatrain of our collaboration reminded me of this quatrain that I wrote years ago inspired by a summary of Giordano Bruno an Italian philosopher whose passion for truth made him a martyr of free thought

To find the synthesis in which opposites and contradictions meet and merge
Would put a persistent philosopher on the verge
Of rising to the highest knowledge of universal unity
Which is the intellectual equivalent of the love of God’s entity

I could not help but follow the trend with more paradoxes

So our collab has lead me back to an obsession
To a romantic love of the theme what if we tried
When applied to day to day living many paradoxes are very spiritually healthly

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

"People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway."

Thanks again Joe

Selcouth love concealed,
garishly as can be.
Soon to be revealed,
with a hearts jubilee.

My soul exalted,
humbly a lover mourns.
Pain is not halted,
by a crown of thorns.

Garnished to perfection,
what a sight to see.
Shining with reflection
holding out the key

to the gates of paradise,
restoring to the Eve.
A new saving sacrifice,
free from sin we believe.

Explanations of zyzygy,
destiny or chance
it's all too dreamy
for everlasting romance.

Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart.

*grabs popcorn, stayed on a chair with my PC infront. And I enjoyed the show!*

. . this really pictures mastery of flow and the words played their role well which resulted into seemingly perfection (though they say nothings perfect). Wonderful play and I love how you managed to vividly put up those words together with the concern of rhyme and rhythm.

The end is my favorite part, it settles all stanzas together and of course, really impressive

=5/5=^^Wonderful! this is a collab so the comment of this poem and its clone is the same ^^

There were two verses that were my favorite:
"My soul exalted,
humbly a lover mourns.
Pain is not halted,
by a crown of thorns."

^^^I dont know why this touches me so much. For some reason it made the poem spiritual for me. Maybe it was the usage of the words "soul exalted" along with the words "crown of thorns". For me, I got an image of Christ while he was being crucified. Let me explain, if I can: "Pain is not halted, by a crown of thorns" Christ suffered immensely for love of us. His soul was uplifted and he suffered no more and was exalted for it. I'm probably not saying this in the way that I wanted, but anyway I thought it was a touching write.

My second favorite verse was:
"Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart."

How true of a poet. It does not need to be true or false when something strikes us to write about. We can feel it deeply whether it be something we ourselves have gone through or something that we heard about that touches us.

"Selcouth love concealed,
garishly as can be.
Soon to be revealed,
with a hearts jubilee.

My soul exalted,
humbly a lover mourns.
Pain is not halted,
by a crown of thorns."

^^I think the flow in these two stanzas could be a little better, but I like the message and story in them.

"Garnished to perfection,
what a sight to see.
Shining with reflection
holding out the key"

^^The flow here is way much better, I think. I really like the last line but I'm not quite sure why.

"to the gates of paradise,
restoring to the Eve.
A new saving sacrifice,
free from sin we believe."

^^I love this stanza. The last line "free from sin we believe" I love that line! I totally understand it.

"Explanations of zyzygy,
destiny or chance
it's all too dreamy
for everlasting romance."

^^I'm no sure I really understand this stanza but I like the rhyming.

"Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart."

^^This is my favrite stanza, I like how the first line relates with the last, if that makes sense. I love the rhyming and flow of this stanza. My favorite line of the whole poem is the last. It's such a great way to end it.

Soda<3

You both did an amazing job here. the flow was nice. the words u both choice were just right.

Explanations of zyzygy,
destiny or chance
it's all too dreamy
for everlasting romance.

Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart.

these last few ending lines realie stant out to me.
5/5

TaKe CaRe,
Frenchy

Wow. I really liked this poem, Joe. I did have to look up the first word (which I remembered the definition soon as I read it, lol). As well as the 'zyzygy' and with that word I didn't find a meaning. Though, I found a word 'syzygy' that kind of made sense there. I might have just missed it or something, who knows? But, I'm quite curious, you should let me know what it means.

You two did a great job on writing the poem I can't tell how you did it, by line, stanza, blahblahblah. It flows nicely together. It has a great flow period. They rhyming was graceful and the poem seemed peaceful. It was a nice piece, very nice.

You and Michael did a great job. :D
5/5

What a wonderful title! Really caught my eye and lured me in.

What stood out to me most was the flawless use of rhyme and how nothing seemed forced but just flowed naturallly. The word choice was also wonderful becaues it was different than the norm making it more interesting and refreshing to see. I loved the short lines because it quickened the pace and had me wanting to read it a second time to fully grasp its meaning.

"Soon to be revealed,
with a hearts jubilee."
^I loved the use of the word "jubilee" because it isnt seen often in poetry and just sounded so fun and rolled of the tongue with ease when I read it outloud.

"Garnished to perfection,
what a sight to see.
Shining with reflection
holding out the key"
^"sight" "see" "shining" ... What amazing alliteration! This stanza made for a great poetic read and when read out loud the [s] sounds just fit right in with the meaning behind the piece. Well done!

"to the gates of paradise,
restoring to the Eve.
A new saving sacrifice,
free from sin we believe."
^I loved the conitnuation of he [s] sounds. I am not sure if it was done purposefully but nonetheless it really makes the poem stand out in my eyes from other poetry on the site.

The final stanza was just a wonderful ending to this masterpeice! Loved the rhyme and how it still lingers in my mind long after I am done reading the piece. This has to be one of the best poems I have read in a while and you two should be proud of constructing such a piece of art.

Well done!
*5/5* :]

Excellent work here, you both created a real mastepiece that was a joy to read! The flow was flawless and the emotoin was so true, it just touched me. 5/5 from me, nice work, and well-expressed. Take care and keep it up!

Great flow and rhyming scheme, don't change on bit about it. The last quatrain was something special and close to the truth, to my opinion fact and fiction aren't distinct in anyone's mind because we all perceive the same truth differently. I like to see the whole world as a fiction story.
I almost heard your poem being read to my by another voice, that's something I almost never get, only with the best poems.
Some parts of it i didn't understand, but that's probably because my English isn't flawless, it's my second language.

Hope to see more of your good work, I'll definitly keep an eye on your acc.

This entire poem was decidedly wonderful. You did a great job setting up the paradox that is love. I also liked the fact that some words that you might not usually see showed up in this poem. It gave it an added sophistication that was enjoyable to say the least.

OMG! I love this poem. It was very well written. And absolutly amazing. It flows naturally, and beautifully. I hope that one day I can accomplish this. It's as if I could hear you telling me the words. I could feel it. I know that kind of sounds cheesy, but who cares? You two did an amazing job. This is, by far, one of the best poems I have ever read. Great job, guys! But I do have to know. What does zyzygy mean?

=5/5=
Amazing!
~Bella<3

A beautiful combination of talents.....flows well and has great rhythm and rhyme....

"Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart."

^ Love this ending...beautiful! Congrats To you both on a lovely piece.

My soul exalted,
humbly a lover mourns.
Pain is not halted,
by a crown of thorns.

^This was my favorite stanza.

You have both done an excellent job with this piece, it was a very enjoyable read. I also thought the ending was a nice touch. Great job.

Very brief, yet beautiful. I love the flow and rhyming. It was done with ease and yet each stanza is filled with so much meaning. It is a very sweet message...yet I was able to find the bitterness of it all. I really enjoyed reading this and I feel I can take something new away from it each time I read it. Nice. 5/5.

-Rolo

Joe
what a beautiful job on your collab.....these are hard to pull off and the 2 of you did it so wonderfully. Your words meshed so beautiful togeter. The flow and the imagery are awesome.

"Fiction and fact
it's not far apart,
in the abstract
of a poets heart."

Love the ending.
Excellent job to you both!
~Clapping~
Take Care
Cindy