A State Of Being Not Yourself Poem by RIC BASTASA

what makes him humiliated
after a compromising situation
where he restrains the movement of his body
like a machine shut off from an
electrical source is this:

he has voluntarily renounced
the true nature of his being
like a fish unable to use its fins
a bud that is tight lipped and cannot
bloom
a wind of ice
a sea denied of its journey
its waves scraped like an
infected skin

how you have such a mouth that cannot open?
words that remain in the books
deprived of some meaning?

the loquacious monster on the other side of the table
where he is seated
is soap bubbling giving you an illusion of a child's game
too unbecoming and unlikely of one
like you who has always the
reputation of free speech
there are souls that hold your mind
pulling your hair
and tying your hands to the arms of the chair
for centuries
your respect for all these is not diminished

self-denial is another principle
that made a Gandhi great
now you are trying to question it
because
it hurts.