taking a stand

by Roberto Lavidez

you take

a stand

as if you’re

a minority

when all

resistance

is broken

all dignity

is destroyed

so much

suffering

that remained

to be alleviated

tragedy to be

rehabilitated

in an amoral

and frivolous

century

bringing about

the loss and

redemption

of many

breaking the

system down

from within

taking the

middle path

between

pragmatism

and utopia

discovering

the secret

knowledge

of the

entire world

to shield us

from the

irrational

oscillations

of history

when we are

pulled aside

and threatened

with hanging

it may come

with dramatic

suddenness

blaze above

the beauty of

the fields

and the

machinations

of guile

coming to

nothing

a broken

window of

a hundred

brittle shards

not capable

of being

understood

until the

time is ripe

transmuting

the stuff of

everyday

experience

into images

a delusion

offering

escape

from the

realities

of life

a reverie

on a lost

civilization

everything

on earth

seemed to

spiral into

the abyss

failing

just as the

flower falls

or something

heavy or 

weighty that 

comes out

of the sky

glimpsed

a way

to end such

wavering

there is just

nothing

you could do

but take 

a stand

©robertolavidez2014