The Acceptable
To trip a trap, to spring a crook,
to follow life through all its nooks
and holes and caverns, loopholes through
which we say, and elsewise do.
I grew a lad with rules to heed.
I grew, a lad without a need,
’til worldly travails herded me in
and taught me a new way to grin.
As shrewd as snakes, as mild as sheep,
we pray the Lord our souls to keep;
that as we wend our way through winds
and navigate with furtive grins
We not forget our spotless kid,
who protests while we keep him hid,
and nags and kicks us in the shins
lest our loopholes knot into sins.
We scuff the line, we scoff at waste,
we season our lifestyles to taste;
Long as our conscience is not seared,
we keep our heads, and fend off fear,
we’ll slip and slide through caves and through
the things we say, and elsewise do.