An Honest Life

by Vernie Lynn DeMille

 

I would rather hear the hard truth

Than the comforting lie.

 

I would prefer the heartbreaking reality,

The one that carries hope within itself,

Like a shell, a seed, a womb, or a warrior:

Protecting something precious,

Over rough paths,

Angry days,

And bitter defeats,

 

Than the soothing deceit,

The lullaby that lures the foolish

Towards the bog, where they meet

A destruction they were too enthralled to see. 

 

I want clear sight,

Though it cost me cold in my bones. 

 

I want a keen mind,

Though it reveal false friends.

 

I want a noble purpose,

Though I have no guarantee of success. 

 

I want living truth,

Though the cost be death, for the right to live it.

 

Comfort, without encouragement,

Is weakness;

Drive, without compassion,

Is cruelty.

 

Balance is found

In the heart that shares a sorrow;

A back that aches from shared labor;

Hands that lift a foreign burden. 

 

I want no lie that bids me sleep

While the storms rage and children weep. 

 

Give me hard truths

And I will try

To build from that stone

An honest life. 

 

—-

March 25, 2020