If we never

If we never               11/1/2017

If you haven’t been forgotten

Then how can you ever

Truly remember?

What it feels like to try

And what it feels like to lose. 

If you were never a friend

Then you might not remember

What it feels like to be betrayed

And die in the rain.

And If I had not truly loved

With all of my heart

Then I would still be blind

Never once broken

And gasping for breath. 

And we had not been poor

The we could never be rich

With holes in our heels

And holes in our teeth. 

And how could I forgive

If I had never been accused

Watched for every flaw

And savaged with lies. 

If you have never robbed

Then it is hard to receive

The undeserved blessing

Of glorious contentment. 

To know a true victory

Then you must also

Know defeat

The bitter agony of loss

And drowning in blood. 

And if a man should grow

Then he must also pay

Either now or later

The debt of his errors

Through humility and truth. 

For nothing is worse

Than to win by deceit

Further and further away

From introspection

And shame.

Coddled at every point

As only the weak receive

The masters of manipulation

And swindling greed. 

With never any use

For questioning or forgiveness

Giving only to receive

And loving only to steal. 

Rewarded for evil

And persistently duplicitous

The swindler will keep swindling

Until the very end. 

Let them go on

And let them go deep

Pulling at the slack

For all that they can. 

Farther and farther from you

And farther and farther from me

Blind to God

Fully guilty

And doubly dead