Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Fashion Police

"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

altruism was given six months to live
and I'm holding his hand, whispering wind to keep him steady,
wheezing breaths of selfish ambition
news stories shaking in his hands
tiny domes of sweat tickle his temples as we crash into one another
and the signs are everywhere you go
the eye-glaring, frown-wearing
hip-holding, brow-folding
foot-tapping, baby-slapping,
how-do-you-dare!, what-do-I-care?
life of lookin out for number one
treading in it to keep my head above the surface
in the concrete box of public education
and in this wired world that my daughter skips through
pigtails bouncing with blissfull ignorance
where everyone is Santa Claus and
danger is something in a cartoon villains's song
cynical adolescent faces smirk with bitterness
like the taste of a penny between their lips
When compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, love
all bear only one synonym
weakness
and only the strong survive
the penny taste is forming faint on my tongue
let me taste Your goodness once again
so I can swim upstream, keep altruism alive,
and clothe myself in Your qualities
even when they're going out of style.

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