April 28 — Whom to Believe

“I hear you.” “Yes, I understand.”

“You reached out whimsically — online -

Recognized my name and thought

To kindly reacquaint.”

“But now there is dismay

At the discrepancy

between

Your recollection of my disposition

And

And what you’ve witnessed now.”

“You’ve changed”

you said, with sadness

Soaring through the world wide web.

Alas, I guess, the change is hologram.

When you were young, your mind still green

The me you saw was dictated by innocence

(Yours)

And artifice

(Mine.)

I would not then — or now -

Dare teil you what to think.

I focused then on how one ought to think.

Because your youth sought strength to find its way.

But you’re no youngster anymore.

And now I must react to find I’ve failed.

***************************************************************

What you think

is up to you — has been and alway will be.

My disappoint lies in how you think,

Especially

Since that is what I thought I’d help you learn.

And sadly, you have not.

So no, I haven’t changed except

I can no longer treat you with kid gloves

The expectations one assigns to youth.

You’re all grown up.

And so I cannot show the ultimate respect

For you

If I withhold requirement

That your contentions meet the

Litmus test

Of adult thinking — sober, rational,

And buttressed by the facts

Rather than

Incredulous conspiracies

That test the elasticity of brains

So far must

Acolytes be poised to stretch

Belief, and faith,

And for that matter hope.

In one regard, there’s difference -

I will not bend — and humor foolishness.