when the fires of shame burns brightest,

the shadows cast fall long, darkly

exposing the soft underbelly of racism,

tho’ we have cast off our shackles of

blackest iron, we bear yet

the manacles borne from womb,

color of skin, shape of feature, curl of hair,

the forbearance of implied less than,

and when the shame burns brightest, so

does the aspersion; the self-righteous finger points

‘see, i knew it, i told you so!’

‘there is the root of our evil,

the cause of our plight,’

there is the ‘proof of our rightness,’

it is HIS fault, our burden to bear,

HIS is the proof to our salvation,

and when the shame burns brightest,

where those who wallow in self interest,

self promotion, are mired in the muck

of blame and indignation, whose own

story bears not the light, nor scrutiny,

hold council with those that truly

matter, deal with privacy that which

is private, and lone, and yours,

and when the sham burns brightest,

‘tis best to simply step from the torrent,

retreat to one’s true self, revel in one’s

own glory, own standing, own worth,

let not the fires of shame, darken

self-image, let not the mongers of

self-righteous indignation and hate and

yes, jealousy, turn your true greatness!

By c a gallgher, © 2009-12-10