Solidarity Poem by Gary Diamond

The only time I found this vaunted thing.
Was by admitting that I was beholden to nothing
That I distrusted or hated everything.
That I was ready to keep falling and stumbling
And making the same big or small mistakes
As all the rest.

In ecstacy the reminder that the end will come.
The fleeting paradise created and lost as rains fall and hats drop.
Friendships are a force of nature and necessity
In many cases you can't choose
No
You get denied such a luxury.

There's got to be a call to arms somewhere in this mess.
Something that angries the blood
Raises the temperature
And rallys the troops together.
A theme to return to
A point to hammer into the ground.

Beware the man who forever repeats his stories and slogans
Beware the repitition and loyalty he brings.
Somewhere there he's gearing up to take what he wants
In one fell swoop or two.
Somewhere in that head of his
He's making plans like others make weak cups of coffee.

I don't trust the quiet and the lonely.
Who can bear a gauge on their loyalty?
The amount of cards he carries,
The way his head is set on his shoulders?
What he keeps hidden in his soul.
The mysteries
You can't prise them out with crowbars
Or pliers
Or shears.

As the lights flicker on and the business is transacted
Then the mechanisms of repetition emerge.
The forced friendships renew
The class climbers continue to cram it in
The old opportunities wither to make way for the new.

Solidarity. We're none of us complete.
That's why we band together like this.
In the concert halls
In the classrooms and the schools
In the gyms and the dojos
Even at the after-hours brawls.