Len Webster's 'Precautions' Poem by Len Webster

Since when did caution
become a term of abuse,
to be spat vindictively
at those who would prevent
disaster striking without real cause?

Renegade politicians throw it to the winds
(having, behind the scenes, decided cautiously
whether the public mood is right) .
The young, ever at risk, are urged to take it,
then criticised for being lacking in spirit
until, heads spinning, hearts turning,
they find it is too late to show it.

And HE writes words about it,
hoping by that to assuage his guilt
for having been cautious for so long
that any chance of love
has been dissipated
by fear of confrontation,
by fear that
she would accuse him of manipulation,
of cheating in the great game
they play so cautiously -
until the turning of the unsuspected wild card
reveals the fatal shard
that murders caution.