In your anger do not destroy
The miscreant, the charlatan
The enemy who slaps your face:
For behind his confident visage
Is a child you do not know
Who may weep on bathroom floors
Or curse his life in the bitter cold;
A tender thing, whose strength
Has overcome thus far—but only just.
Do not supply the demons
Who stand over that fragile frame
You’ll never see, nor know.
Accept no abuse; and yet
In strength, bear his pride,
His bitter self-assurance—
And refuse to scar
another human heart.
The miscreant, the charlatan
The enemy who slaps your face:
For behind his confident visage
Is a child you do not know
Who may weep on bathroom floors
Or curse his life in the bitter cold;
A tender thing, whose strength
Has overcome thus far—but only just.
Do not supply the demons
Who stand over that fragile frame
You’ll never see, nor know.
Accept no abuse; and yet
In strength, bear his pride,
His bitter self-assurance—
And refuse to scar
another human heart.
November 2019
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