i am a citizen
of a united states of
sensibility––
my aim is to
listen to heart
beats—
to hear & to learn
as much as i
can––
to strive for
the compassion of
a cooling breeze in summer
& the wisdom of a quiet
autumn afternoon––
i accept that my
clever certainties are merely
questions––
my voice––all
reasoned voices––are
silenced by raging
sound-bites of
one-second
judgments
due process of the
mind is dying in
my country––
along with science
that doesn’t make
profit & news
that doesn’t serve
some invisible
power
democracy doesn’t
work without humanity––
& humanity can’t breathe
without
respect
i resist a leader
who yells commands
at me––
who punctuates demands
with pointing
fingers
who insists his
righteousness is my
rightness––
or else,
what?
Hier stehe Ich. Ich kann nicht anders tun. Gott hilfe mir. Amen.
Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.
Martin Luther, German theologian at the Diet at Worms, April 18, 1521