Common Sense

Common sense can not embrace the ambiguities 

Of the human mind and spirit.

It can not address the vagaries of human emotion

Or choices in love.

Common sense is tasked unfairly with explaining

That which defies explanation.

And pretending to know truth only to have 

truth slips from its grasp

Common sense can not explain beauty.

Common sense does not dream dreams.

Common sense is frightened by 

the dark terrain of the unknown.

And the adventures demanded of the heart.

Common sense plods the path of the familiar 

Driven quietly insane by its finiteness. 

In the psychiatric ward common sense is laughable.

In court ,it is commonly  and routinely defied

In marriage, it is as savaged beyond recognition

In business it is danced around 

In science it is Acknowledged,

yet deeply suspect.

Common sense cannot explain love.

It is nonplussed by beauty.

Common sense does not dream dreams.

Common sense loves reason

Reason is  however a mistress with many lovers

Some of them insane.

Reason dances into

The wee hours of the morning 

With shady partners 

While Common Sense lays awake

Counting specs on the ceiling and 

And the dreams it never had. 

 Derek Earl Houghton