On Our Side

by John Herlihy

In the end we need God there on our side

From this universal principle we cannot hide

No matter how many times we from slumber awake

We eventually come to realize that we cannot escape

Escape from the truth that will finally be known

That here on earth our lives from shadow and light sewn

Woven into the hand-stitched fabric of human destiny

In response to the presence of life's inevitable mystery

The flower of a mystery whose petals will quietly unfold

To reveal the greatest story the world has ever been told

What then lies beyond earth’s edge on the other side

On the near and distant horizon both far and wide

All falsehood and salacious things that will do us in

All the vices of the world that paint a picture most grim

Pictures at an exhibition with sole purpose to deceive

Terrible pictures that on our own we could never conceive

Falsehoods and lies without pretense even of seeming real

Their bold frankness, their utter salaciousness, their main appeal

Appeal indeed to the negative side of the human appetite

Coarse and ravenous as it walks with purpose Into the night

Odd that people actually know when they are doing wrong

Nevertheless they continue to sing their bluesy sour song

All in the name of gaining some furtive, surreptitious advantage

While looming in the wings lies the karmic boomerang of disadvantage,

This is the world we presently live in, the place where we reside

With no one left with whom we can freely converse and confide

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Wednesday 17 December 2025