to my friends my fellow poets (and those who misunderstand them)

Respect

to my friends my fellow poets
(and those who misunderstand them)

For those who do not know of what they speak
To criticize has a chilling effect
Ignorance burns smoky its light is weak
It smudges pollutes makes horizons bleak

Yet the wise offer due human respect
Even to those who seem unworthy of
This gift of their faith in the power of love
The sign by which to detect the elect

You do not like our poetry? Agree
To disagree and let us all be free

We will embrace even as you reject
You mock us loudly? We smile silently
Avenged living well forgetting the rest
Because we laugh last: we always laugh best

Respect and solidarity,

+Steven Curtis Lance



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