Poetics Aside prompt: Write a poem illuminating how it feels to stand up for what is right in the face of adversity in the workplace.
Honor or money
Which will it be?
For I can fool others
But I can never fool me
The plaque on the wall
Will mock me with truth
If I succeed through a lie
What truth could not do
I want to look myself
Straight in the eye
Not blush because
All I see is a lie
Money can never
Buy out regret
Or clear the conscience
Of its debt
Bills will keep coming
Words slip with ease
But guilt is an albatross
Money cannot appease
To suffer the truth
Or spill pretense?
To keep my job
At honor's expense?
What can we say
To our children and youth
If we choose to lie
Then try to teach truth?
The cost of a lie
Is hidden from view
To keep a lie covered
Requires at least two
God forbid
I should lie so much
That I no longer feel
Reproach's touch
A lie is a shackle
Of misery
But the truth will always
Set you free
Money or sacrifice?
Fortune or trust?
Riches in heaven?
Or treasures of dust?
Guilt or peace?
Honor or shame
What will they remember
When someone speaks my name?
Today we live
Tomorrow we die
Nothing is worth
The price of a lie
Janet Martin
Yes nothing is worth the price of a lie . The beauty of your thought always shines through . How can the reader ever keep up with expressing praise for this beauty ? !! Suffice this moment only just to say it travels and reaches and touches every time - far more than we can say . Thanks Janet for pouring out that which the lord abundantly continues to refurbish you with . You know how to handle this . And all.
ReplyDeleteLove your poems and you !
Good morning Grace<3 thank-you so much for your visit and kind comments! what a gentle way to start the day, with beautiful words of encouragement from across the miles! May God bless you for reminding me to be faithful! with love and appreciation, Janet
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