This poem illustrates what happens when you fail to properly heed Rabbi Bunim’s advice about the importance of keeping a coat with two pockets. In each pocket, the Rabbi says, you should put a slip of paper, on one of which has be written “For my sake was the world created” while on the other it says “I am only ashes and dust.” The Rabbi stresses each slip being better suited to different occasions, the two of them are therefore better held apart in separate pockets.
This poem illustrates the peril and insight that result from resort to a single pocket.
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Yesterday around sunset
While walking my dogs
I put a bag of dog poop
In the pocket of my fleece
Along with another bag
Of doggie treats
And when I got
To the garbage can in town
I threw away the wrong bag
And continued home
With a pocket full of poop
The best and the worst
Become interchangeable, it seems
That’s sometimes how life works
