In Praise of the Middle

Draw a square on some paper
Draw another around it
Cut out the inner square
And jump through the hole
Into Middle-Earth

But do it when you’re young
Draw a circle
Double its size
And let the years slip by
Welcome to middle-age

 Got my ticket, flying to Egypt,
Jordan and Beirut
On the way to Qatar to feel
The heat of an oxymoron
The Middle-East

Fly past Stone and Bronze
Flash through the Dark
And land, tumbling, one day
Like a jester in the Middle Ages
Heading down the tube of time

And in your travels up and down time
Will you notice the Messiah
Stuck in the middle, a closed heart
To his left, and one to his right,
Open, en route to Paradise?