Not Yet This and/or That

I have looked for answers, although
I have not yet understood very simple questions.

I study the magazines and newspapers,
But I do not yet know the meaning
Of some fortune cookies,
Or a raised eyebrow.

I sent 25 dollars after the Haitian earthquake,
But I have not yet hopped on a plane.

Many things stop me in my tracks,
But I am not yet able to lay down my life for them.

I am not yet so enlightened
As to embrace those I disagree with.
I give, but I have not yet
Given away my leather couch,
the shoes I walk in, my orange cat,
My postponements.

I would thank every one who ever taught me something,
Every one who reaches out, or lifts up what does not personally
Apply to or benefit them -- but as I have not yet
Found a way to contact these people,
I simply think about them.

Everything you say is true and has been taken to heart,
But while I don’t eat the red meat or drink the corn syrup,
I do eat what flew or swam. (We cannot live on nuts and berries.)

I have stopped filling my cheeks with almonds thickly coated
In dark chocolate, but I have not yet stopped craving
Other forbidden things.

I have seen you and I have tried,
But I have not yet heard what you said about yourself.
You have held me but I am not yet sure what that means.
We live together but we dream apart. (A secret.)

I knew you the day I was born,
We walk side by side, but we have not yet stopped
Cutting the ground out from under each other’s feet, occasionally.

Answers will not be revealed, questions will not be answered,
Yet we have not yet moved our cupped hand from our ear
Or stopped placing a bandage on a dying child
Or a broken soldier,
in a disaster.