Integrity
A poem about Integrity written back in May 2004.It trails the journey of holding onto one’s values in the face of challenges and how some challenges can be gut wrenching and yet integrity plays out and wins in the end.
INTEGRITY
Integrity is a virtue that I hold dear
One of such beauty and trustfulness here
On earth we get muddled and caught in a pickle
On high he looks down and throws us a nickel.
–
A nickel no less can be a great insult
To our vanity as frowns take over the assault
A knee in the gut can be painful and yet,
What is our problem when difference is met?
–
I turn aside and sigh at great contradictions
That forever tan my hide on the voice of dereliction.
I stand in a crowd feeling exposed
to yardsticks thrown at me out here in the cold.
–
Integrity has silence that certainly speaks volumes
To those who are listening and sitting on sand dunes
Integrity is everything I choose as a vice
To some it gives courage and also spice.
–
I once met a man who sat on a parapet
Whose character I felt couldn’t be circumspect
For one year or so he held my regard
As he taught me things that I found quite hard.
–
One day his character became revealing
As he toppled and and fell to the floor from the ceiling
Disappointment ensued as I saw straight through him
And never regained my respect for him on a whim.
–
I heard much later through a friend on the grapevine
That he’d been quite low in spirit and mind
My heart went out, so I wrote him a letter
And only hoped it made him feel better.
–
Some try to hide this part of their nature
By being out there and playing the dumb waiter
Its ok to be like Fred Astaire or Paul Newman
You are after all only just human.
–
A fantasy world helps to dull the hurt
And saying but not meaning needs a lot of work
The age old adage of truths in a pie
Shh… finger on lip or you’ll be caught in a lie.
–
Sometimes I sense this feeling in others
Of truth and deep sadness that comes from mothers
I want to go near them and tell them I know
How they are feeling though it’s not on show.
–
Integrity walks but a very thin line
Is upright and stalwart and almost divine
It holds onto your good name that is so precious
For others to remember when there are no treasures.
–
How many can say to thine ownself be true?
Stop fiddling around and playing the fool
When horses stampede in the wild and yonder
Will the world stand still while you just wander?
–
In myself I know I have been brought up with a treasure
One that’s so rare, its always a pleasure
To speak my mind with delicacy
To deliver to the weary in truthfulness and harmony.
–
Integrity so dear and noble a find/ (friend)
Where will I be without you in my mind/ (at the end)
What difference it makes to the world at large
If only we listened and stopped the charge.
–
At times I ask in my confusion
For the universe to show and tell me, why all this accusing?
Answers do come in the guise of an angel
That speaks on a song of wild wishes and changes.
–
Nevertheless, the carriage is drawn in a noble spire
With ringlets of goodness and holy fire
Where I am heading is yet to be seen
On the back of integrity to a heavenly being.
22/5/04.
Liz Chukwu©
