Wisdom or self-destruction, always a short decision away
The Enemy…
...of ignorance
is information
and the willingness
to entertain new
or different ideas
even when they conflict
with what we had thought
we already knew.
The enemy of happiness
includes deeply held rage
based on nonsense
and avoidance of
facts and reason.
Some people are angry
all the time
and look for justification
to explain their unhappiness.
The enemy is out there
and
in here.
The poet’s job
is to say the thing
that must be said,
unafraid of bullets or bayonets
and confident beyond
the meaning of the words.
In the darkness of 2:07 A.M.,
long before the sun rises,
the world asleep,
we awaken, blink our eyes
and know
truth as we’ve heard it;
we know, without doubt,
when truth is somehow real.
History nods to us from
a thousand years ahead,
and from today
and from a thousand years ago.
The enemy is always here
always close, watching and waiting
inside and outside of us:
ignorance or wisdom?
We have to choose.
Or it will
be chosen for us
and laid upon us.
like angry hands
and cold eyes.
Author lying prone image by A.S. King