No Badges Poem by Mary Spain
No Badges
You wear your badges with such pride and I
Admire you unreservedly. I share
Your consternation and concern. I care
About the principles you're standing by,
The causes you uphold so well. So why
This caution, this reluctance to declare
Myself as one committed, and to wear
Those badges that the dedicated buy?
Am I a coward, skulking down the way
Of non-alignment, weak when you are strong?
Perhaps; but in my heart I'd rather stay
Where questions lie unanswered. I belong
Where I must argue with myself each day
This possibility: I might be wrong.
wow! again a good sonnet. and what you say here particularly strikes with me. one of the reasons is that i was born, so it seems, with a confidence that i was right. but with age (i'm now seventy) i can smile at this youthful surety and am much more cautious in my assertions. i also relate this to my feelings these days about protest/activism. -glen
Well thought out sentiments, well written from a dying breed of rhyming poets. Thanks for sharing.
This works very well: it mirrors my own journey, for sure, & that of others I know, & once more appears effortless, showing how much effort you've put into the crafting. Thank you.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 10:48:32 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Personally I identify with the narrative of this, having been a political animal in the 70s and 80s (when these things mattered) . I love the shift from self to person in this, you introduce it so subtly.