Sometimes In Wanting To Be Civil Poem by RIC BASTASA

sometimes
in wanting to be civil
i close my mouth
i suppress the
exact words
i prune what is in my mind

like some bonsai
under the sun
what appears are
remnants of
beauty

sometimes in wanting
to endure
our inevitable sufferings
we simply close
our eyes

to the truth
we pretend we like the way
we live
we surmise these do not
last anyway

then we forget to tell the
truth altogether
we even forget
that we are its bearers

simply because
we too want to survive
a flood of lies
a catastrophe
of ingenuinity & falsities

but with you
i am honest enough to admit
i lied
because i am afraid
to lose you

that you must remember