Honor Among Kings

by John Herlihy

Will there ever be kings again?

Reply: all men with honor are kings.

But not all kings have honor,

Honor takes no notion of life’s stations

Honor makes a king of any person.

The child asked: Do women have honor?

Women are the very heart of honor.

We cherish and protect their honor,

At their feet lies the gate to paradise

Never malign women or do them wrong.

A child asked: What then is honor

What no person can give another

What no person can take away

Honor is a person’s gift to oneself

Honor earned as honor lived

How is honor earned, achieved

To live nobly according to truths

Universal truths that no one can deny

Unless they live without honor

Holding up the mark, spouting forth lies

The child asked, still wondering:

How do you know if you have it?

Worry not about having it?

Worry only about finding it

Worry only about manifesting it

Honor shines when being true to oneself,

Lives within, speaks with an inner voice.

The honorable person always on guard,

Hears and listens to their inner voice.

If true to oneself, then true to all others

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Sunday 25 May 2025