The Hesitancy Of Honesty Poem by Bill Upton

The words rang hollow, wreaking of cliché,
Neither heartfelt nor authentic.
'I'm sorry. Our prayers are with your family'
Is all that was mustered
For final farewell
From a threadbare, everyman-response playbook.

'We've got to talk',
Yet we avoid the talk when it is time.
We are afraid of reality.
We fear unwanted consequences
That come with truth.
For some reason we seldom reach into the soul
When common lip service will do.
We prefer sound bites to meaningful dialogue.
However cowardly, we protect our insecurities.
We feel safer giving kindergarten answers
To graduate school questions.
It is uncomfortable to bare our souls, show our hands.
It's too controversial to make bold statements,
To risk upsetting the applecart.

Until we begin to claim ownership
Of our thoughts, our opinions, our feelings,
And the very stands we make in life,
We will be reduced to emotional flyweights,
Socially handicapped, existentially diminished,
And spiritually starved and void
Of the innermost cleansing
From our innate honesty.