Naked Truth


To give up,
suffer defeat.

Or…

To surrender,
giving oneself
to the integrity of survival.

Such is our choice of destiny,
of willingness to live
embracing pain,
realizing pleasure,
accepting paradox.
our potential capable of reaching

beyond the obvious.

Yet…

So many,
the woman on the bus,
the homeless astride his belongings-bag,
the maimed veterans,

those seeking asylum,
the wounded innocents
existing without respect for their cause.

Much of humanity is shamelessly ignorant,
living with consciousness without principles,
hiding in secure bubbles of defense,
insulated by power and wealth from the harsh realities

impacting the majority.

Fearful,
some still give of themselves,
immerse into a strangers’ world of hopelessness,
discover the often-elusive core of humanity,
where survival relies on trusting,
void of discrimination and bigotry,
where to be a volunteer is both revered,
and feared.

To give up,
or surrender.

To remain in delusional security,
or break away from fear’s seduction,
venture outside the tenuous safety

of provided captivity, not shelter,
imprisoning who we might be,
who we might have been.
who we might become.

So, go heroes,
where truth’s nakedness
knows not hiding,

providing those with conscience,

an alternative to merely selfish comfort.