Ripple
If you've ever felt ripples of fear
Don't hesitate, draw near,
People spend half their lives avoiding 'situations',
The other half running away from 'situations'
The consequences of such avoidance
Are sins of omission.
Frozen secrets in rock or ice
Leak out into Trilobites staring out of the deepest past
Nothing lasts.
It is, of course, always possible for
Any woman or man
To stop this dance of death,
By just being who they are,
Every act of being expresses
A nostalgia for the innocence from which we arose
An appeal to the essence of being flows.
Into the everyday life of the mind
Leaving those ripples of fear far behind.
It is a mistake to believe that the brave
Do not feel fear.
It takes a great deal of bravery
To stand up to enemies
Whether in our own minds or in the world outside,
Strong beliefs can hold fear at bay
While (wo)men bravely get on
With the important work of the day-to-day.
And, anyway, the opposite of bravery
Is not cowardice but conformity
Being scared of being in a minority
Or of being unpopular, of standing out,
And it is indifference and complacency
That murder the soul
That make people old
We must look up at the stars more
Not down at our sore and battered feet.