Sleight

Sleight

(“A heartless leader is a fool, but anyone who refuses to get rich by cheating others will live a long time.” Proverbs 28:16)

When we delay the good or betray our bad enthusiasm
for prejudices we’ve hidden,
we fill our pockets with nothing but air from
muddy-bottom rivers at low tide.

Base your words on truth, my leader,
without deception. Your sleight-of-hand is not
nearly as sleight as you believe. Though lovers
always believe the other’s sleight-of-hand tricks,
your cunning is visible as noon masquerading
as the back side of the moon.

When you call your servant in for an interview,
a question or two about his future,
then rake him like dead leaves,
interrogate him like the DA you always wished you could be;
when you mass your troops for his single soul,
why is it you feign such surprise at his silence.

When you offer your hand while he nears the quicksand bottom,
and close future doors with your other hand behind your back,
why, mister wise, are you so surprised when
he feels constantly under attack.

Love never manipulates, never marionettes with camouflage strings,
 but speaks truth about what it knows and hopes to know,
and lets the loved one go without trying to
ghost-write the future.

Speak truth to me and I will find peace in the words,
love or no.
Speak peace to me, with truth well hidden, and I will never sleep
peacefully again.