Mettle

We dance and we leap,

paint fine facial features, sing arias,

build bridges, streets and cityscapes.

We tend to our children

and the weakest among us.

We kill and we creep,

go along to get along, justify,

demolish subtle ideas.

We abandon ourselves

like an addict exhausted.

Capable of everything possible

we can be magnificent,

and also we can

lose conscience and tenacity.

Calls for optimism become

some long lost book

of famous last words

found buried deep in rubble

by anthropological sorts

in a future to be determined.

No mettle, compassion, or commitment to love

constitutes a cycle of abuse.

Look at pictures of armies for tyrants

and civilizations that fall to the will—

some for lack of support, some may surmise

that some dictated end justifies

fueling the hate, and Hate lies.

So: No.

Mettle, compassion, and commitment to love.

Break the cycle of abuse.

Look at pictures of activists for peace

and societies that stand up to the cruel—

some for show of support, some may surmise

that what speaks for our species thrives

in nurturing empathy, and Empathy arrives.

Yes.

Mettle.

Compassion, and commitment to love break the cycle of abuse.

We dance and we leap

in a future to be determined.