The Things We Say

We have learned to cry where everyone can see,
Then leave before the wounded ask for grace.
We call it sympathy because our eyes are wet,
And never once return to face their face.
We say, “I’m here,” with one hand on the door,
Our love arranged like furniture for show.
We want the credit for a heart that cares,
But not the burden love demands we know.
We praise potential like a newborn god,
We frame the dream and hang it on the wall.
Then mock the man whose fear keeps him asleep,
As if applause could teach a seed to crawl.
We worship talent, clean and undisguised,
And sneer at sweat that stains the common shirt.
But nothing living rises from a wish,
And every honest future starts in dirt.
We say “I’m sorry” like a little prayer,
Then bring the same sharp knife back to the meal.
We want forgiveness to erase the wound,
Not change enough to prove that we can feel.
We call regret a deep and noble pain,
A dark song played alone beside the bed.
But sorrow that will not become a step,
Is only ego weeping for the dead.
We love our words because they cost so little,
They fly like doves above a burning town.
But promises without a pair of hands,
Are paper crowns that rain will tumble down.
The poor are told to trust the rich man’s tears,
The lonely hear, “Be strong,” then hear the click.
The world gives sermons on compassion’s worth,
While stepping over bodies in the street.
We want to be the hero in the mirror,
The kind who suffers beautifully at night.
But daylight asks what we have truly done,
And daylight does not care about the light.
So here is life, stripped naked of its speech,
A courtroom with no curtain, priest, or shield.
You are not what your mouth can make believe,
You are the thing your living hands reveal.
Love is the labor. Sorry is the turn.
Regret becomes a road, or stays a cage.
We die beneath the weight of what we say—
Or live, by making truth upon the page.

…

DCG

Six uncomfortable truths of life:
Sympathy is nothing without support.
Love is nothing without effort.
Potential is nothing without progress.
Sorry is nothing without change.
Regret is nothing without growth.
Words are nothing without action.”

— source unknown