Never Never Never Poem by RIC BASTASA

Never assume anything
Never take anything for granted
Never take things simplistically
As though
There is no reason
For every

Leaf that falls prematurely

A schoolboy who never wants to go to school again
A little girl who kills herself because of poverty
(all the while it was her father who raped her)

never assume that poor countries exist
because their leaders are corrupt
and all for that reason

the people too voted for them
the people too sold their votes

never assume that only one is at fault
the criminal has his own reasons too

the complainant the more
he will raise his fist and say there is injustice

but you are there for the scales
and you balance them and look at every word that is uttered
and leaves no stone unturned

the sharpness of the knife
the depth of the wounds
the amount of blood that is lost
the possible alibi
the hideous lie
the witnesses who do not blink
the bullet that is left

could be a gun and not a knife
could be the stranger not the wife
never never assume anything
you will be called upon to judge

let the innocent child in you arise
seeing new in everything that meets your eye
that tells your mind
and speak without fear
to honestly
tell that the emperor after all is wearing no new clothes.