Be Your Own Hero
by Michael Doyle


Incurable as a dreaming hero
Stubborn as a seeming zero
We play our parts in masquerade
Each day lived within its charade

Hiding ourselves behind the music we play
Caught up in front of screens all day
Because we cannot be who we want to be
Despite the self we let others see

There's a dinginess that clings to death
A dirtiness noticeable on our breaths
As we speak the things unspeakable
Hoping to convince ourselves we are unbreakable

There in that swallowed pride that we drink
As we take our pause just to be able to think
Thoughts filed away in the recesses of our minds
Hidden in the dark, afraid of what we might find

Taking the hit that won't ever be forgot
In hope that someone might have half a shot
At finding the clues that lead to the answers
To cure the malignant matter that eats at us like cancer

If you will pardon the sheerest cupidity
Of the double edged sword of our duplicity
As it cuts through our lives, be they real or not
The worse of it's banal lessons will not be forgot

True villainy cannot be hidden behind any mask
To believe so is the madness that calls and tasks
Us to stand, even if alone, against the violence
No longer condoning this through timid silence

These are the circumstances from which heroism is born
When the fabric of society is now tattered and torn
Somewhere pushing through all of life's abuses
Is the justification of warnings too profuse

To ignore or put aside any longer
We must instead become more able and stronger
Standing for truth and light against the vast night
In hope of answering the why needed to make it all right

(c) September 2, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved