today i found myself in unfamiliar country.

today i found myself a stranger –

surrounded by many;

yet alone on my particular journey.

 

today i found myself engaging with life outside my comfort zone –

recognition,

not an option,

from travelers with agendas of exclusion.

and while uncomfortable with the transparency of my unfamiliar vulnerability,

i realized with extreme clarity the composition of my character.

 

today i found myself naked –

pretension removed –

intention perceived –

direction,

redefined.

 

today i let go of the who i was,

and found –

the me i am…

words.

powerful.

capable of building up –

and tearing down.

 

responsible for fluctuation in attitude,

rise and fall of the tide –

emotion.

 

spoken in haste,

can deconstruct villages of trust years in the making.

spoken without consideration;

affections greatest liability…

 

all too often we choose retaliation over arbitration.

fully aware –

feelings worn deliberately on sleeves,

encounter more option of denigration.

 

and  yet somehow,

with cracks clearly visible in our glass walls,

we choose to deny ownership of the rocks…

 

check your pockets.

i personally found several in mine…

words,

we offer –

 

prayers for forgiveness.

dialogue for recompense.

 

heads bowed,

unintentional act of respect –

eyes closed,

irreverent –

surely there can be no penalty of judgment –

for crimes we choose not to see…

what then?

when no more darkness finds itself extinguished by the light?

when all the strength contained within the shell of this body ebbs away –

 

what then?

 

will i –

mind free from consternation –

lay down,

become – undone?

 

what then?

 

when morning comes and finds me less than whole,

yet so much more than was…

to fly above the sky and feel the brush of angels wings.

and then –

perhaps –

come face to face with God?

 

oh that the world would listen –

simple truth –

instead of learning in the end,

knowing –

all along!

barbaric!

basically devoid of even a trace of empathy.

callously, we sit on the safe side of perception –

offer opinion –

demand recompense.

where is it written,

we own the right to condemnation?

 

just because we see the stone being thrown,

we feel compelled to mimic?

when did we,

along this journey of life,

lose pride in our identity?

obscured faces concealed indiscriminately by the crowd.

 

alike,

indifferent,

separated by acts of indecision –

however,

conjoined by our avoidance of advocation.

and yet,

when hearing the tolling of the bell,

cry out to a god denied,

demand remuneration for supposed consideration,

insist our acts of self-gratification –

predestined –

allowed.

self-righteous –

dogmatic in our pursuit of  misdirected piety.

knees bent,

gesture of misconceived reverence flaunted –

vainly –

conspicuous.

 

and from our eyes,

no tears.

crying disallowed within the confines of our self-imposed cells of solitary-confinement.

insensate –

innately indisposed…

 

look!

humility lies dying on the ground,

and no one owns capacity to care…

“we sit in empty rooms –

consumed with the next thought,

surreptitiously interjected into our uneventful lives.

searching for value and justification, 

we scan through the abyss of suppose,

anticipating relevance – 

some semblance of self-value.

and when we find nothing notable, 

we resort back to our misery – 

wrap ourselves up in the familiarity of alone.”