Fixed Eye Contact Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

If it was not for ambition,
Promoted by devotion.
And motivated by faith.
Who could say,
Their achievements to accomplish...
Had been based upon receiving,
An encouragement given...
From people overheard insisting that gave,
To the ones who sweated...
With the noticing of none of it coming.
But expected to be gracious...
Amongst those showing false faces.

If it was not for ambition,
Promoted by devotion.
And motivated by faith,
Less would be the success...
To benefit others to get,
At the expense of the ones...
Shedding tears AND sweat,
To have it heard by those expressing it...
How high they had set their expectations.

'Did you hear those mother...'

~Just...
Nod and smile.
With a giving of fixed eye contact.
Do 'that' and the message they will get.
You no longer have to prove,
The work you've done is yours.
Here.
Take this napkin.
And wipe the blood off your bitten lips.
Do the nod and smile thing.
The fixed eye contact will do the rest of it.~