Cheating Kindness

First you will realize the meaning,
When you mistake its implication
To be kindness wrapped up in a bow.

Suddenly you know what you're seeing,
Their lies underneath all the fabrication,
Where cheating is all they will know.

You're outside the circle that's breeding
The stereotypes they express not in desperation,
To be kindness wrapped up in a bow.

You'll yearn to step into the circle in needing
To be accepted despite valid hesitation,
Where cheating is all they will know.

Still that door will stay closed to your silent hurting,
And you'll rise above their narrow rejection,
To be kindness wrapped up in a bow.

Turning away, you will find inner healing,
Leaving it in the past of yesterday,
To be kindness wrapped up in a bow,
Where cheating is all they will know.

02.23.15
©Kerri L. Stanley

Unwritten Rules

It’s something you sacrifice for them
What you’d do to help them along
Or do to teach them life’s lessons

It’s a game in between the games
When you decide to play along
Or decide to break the rules

It’s a fact no one will state
Where you pretend to like each other
Or pretend to even care

It’s a time they will remember
Why they arrived here even at all
Or arrived here to want to leave

It’s something you’ll keep inside
How knowing it’s better to keep quiet
Or knowing you’d lose the game

07.04.10

Truth That Lies

The water underneath the creaking bridge
Through sunny day storms will recede and rise
Testing the strengths of the brave ones
Dividing them between the truth that lies
Visible beyond but way out of reach
Except for the ones who will together hold hands
Knowing strength in numbers will keep them alive
Despite breeching morals that dissolve like sand
They will toss out a rope to save their own
And turn a blind eye to the dog paddlers
Who will eventually make way to solid ground
Still not losing sight of what really matters
They’ll shake off the remnants of dirt
And with the others on that bridge will stand
While their own might be lost to keep it from breaking
Knowing it’s needed to connect the two lands
They will accept in silence their continued defeat
And some may choose not to always follow
The ones who pretend to be who they are not
Because popularity is their only shadow
Thinking they are safer in greater numbers
Losing sight of who they really are
The underdogs see especially on sunny days
Because the colors of shadows are always dark

11.14.08