*****
I think that now I understand
What you base the hatred on
Which cannot peaceful be with peace,
Based conflict upon
I don’t need to noisy be
Or daily in your face
Be unkind, troublesome or rude
I don’t need to trash your place
Steal belongings, or get wild
When you attempted to steal mine —
If I’d done any of those things
It would have suited you just fine
No inconsideration need I give
To earn your covert war —
All I did, unconsciously,
Was just to raise the bar
If I work morning, noon and night
To some contribution make
Rather than perpetually
Being on the take,
If I do what I say I will
When I say that it I’ll do,
And give a pleasant greeting
To everyone I come to —
What will nourish chaos?
What maintain the strife
Which to you is primary
Entertainment in your life?
How will you face the pecking order
Of that ladder you are on
If someone living right beside you
Lives that ladder not upon?
Since you to petty interests
Have sacrificed your dignity,
Feel you that you’re entitled
To that same sacrifice from me?
I see all folk as equal,
You see great, and you see small —
You work for yourself alone
I work for the All
Nor do I condemn you
For your chosen path
Though mine you cannot contemplate
Without giving in to wrath
Nor countenance defenselessness
In your near surround
Without first in small, then large, ways
Driving it into the ground
I can but compassion feel
Silent sympathy I give
At what a miserable way
That must be in which to live
But since there’s naught to help it
Which peaceful I can do or say,
I’ll leave you to that misery
And get out of its way
*****
The poet/editor of this website is physically disabled, and lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. Contributions may be made at:https://www.gofundme.com/are-you-a-patron-of-the-arts
