Poetry: Shallow

I have no hard feelings towards you.
What do hard feelings consist of?
Hate? Love? Passion?
What is a soft feeling but mutual indifference
Or a nothing more than a pleasant feeling
To a bystander that has made no effect?

To one who lives by the rules of black-and-white:
Are the only two possibilities
To live life fully, deeply, hard
or
To live life barely, superficially, soft
And if so, then
By this logic of yours, then
Do you not admit to the second when
No hard feelings are felt?

No.
This cannot be so.
Let me show you.
Through my riddles
Will my point be made clear.

A cup can only hold the amount of water that it was designed to hold.
-No more
Asking for a chalice to contain more than what it can carry?
-Pure madness

You're not hard-hearted
You're not being mean
-You're not

There is only so much depth
When the boundaries are established
-Shallow

If I was a well
You sought to capture my water
Go for it
But don't get mad
For you use a tablespoon
When I know how much better
A bucket is for the task

So meticulous
So painstakingly slow
Must every drop be examined
Or understood
Or felt?
(A spoon is all you had
Bravo, you took on the task)

When I met you,
You were a small clay cup
Barely could hold 6oz
And you boasted of your great capabilities
For you were made of clay
I wet you
Put you back on the table
Worked on your soft earth
Formed you with more

You were hardened
It took a lot of persuasion
Melting you down to your basics
Just to increase your being

Why not get a larger cup?
Why not find one yet made?
Where is the fun in that?

In work
In labor
In tears
In long hours
In physical exhaustion
I wore you down
I built you up

I wasn't perfect
Not everything I did went well
Some pieces of hard rock never softened
These places you couldn't let go

Now you are a larger cup
You can hold 20oz
So much progress was made
But my work was not done
I spent too long in the shop
I forgot the passage of time
The sun rose up onto you
I watched in horror
You solidified

(And this time
It wouldn't be as 'easy'
To mold you back)

A crack ran through the top
The glorious rim
That I spent hours
Weeping into form
It fell off
10oz
My efforts
Seem in vain
Progress made?
Yes

But

Look at you now
As the sun's beams
End your tutorial
Every addition I made
Runs a lighter color
One day it'll all fall off
And you'll be as you were before

I had high hopes for this cup of clay
Only to realize that
It was shallow made
And I could not force the difference.

It is not your fault.