THE NEXT INVESTITURE.

Let’s be so earnest
With ourselves, if none else,
But if else, then be on,

And if wrong to admit this
Then make your address,
And addressed, then be gone.

For inside the concerns
Are discussed in hushed tones,
But these tones are not ours.

And if so deduced,
Then the walls have been breached,
And if breached then its war.

So forget being earnest,
And for now to the fence,
For the fence is our hope.

But if fallen then all we
Have left is belief,
And belief cannot cope.

And if only we’d listened,
And later we’d heard,
We’d have heard and not fought.

Then we wouldn’t be trapped
By four square enemies,
And our enemies’ thoughts.

For we could have exchanged
Our numbers and words,
For their words and effects.

But we didn’t, so sorry
To have dragged you along,
This long path and the next.