Radio Silence – an #improv #poem

Silence:

My friends variously
tell me to keep quiet
and to boisterously express

Both my fear
and my anxious,
soapbox warnings.

If I could speak and
keep passionate
positivity in the foreground

I would speak.
But silence is the
better part for me.

To say what I believe
would be to alienate
half the population

Of one of the
countries I appreciate
most dearly.

How can a “house
divided against itself”
stand the onslaught

Of hatred and
hateful rhetoric
that has deafened

Our ears and
soiled our souls
for many months.

We are changed.
That much is clear.
There will never

Be the same
opportunities to
work together

And stand
together even
as we disagree.

The hatred spewed
has created rifts
too wide for

Quiet hearts to
bridge. New
connections must

Now be built
if we are to
cross these chasms

From both sides
and together.
So for now,

I will keep
radio silence
and voice

My opinion
only in the private
places of

Human conversation
and solitude.
I cry for

This loss
and stretch my
imagination

Into the abyss;
there, may it
find harbingers

Of heartful longing
for the common
good, healing, and

Words that speak
of love and
kindness for all.

~ spontaneously composed by Stan Stewart
in the days leading up to USA-election-day 2016
~ Copyright © 2016 by Stan Stewart and muz4now, inc. All Rights Reserved.