Goines On: Dictates

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Goines was about to exit the side garage door for his Sunday walk, but a familiar feeling cautioned him he’d better do something first. He went back into the house, explaining to his wife, “Prudence dictates that I pee before I flee.”
    The “poetry” of his announcement inspired him to dictate some lines to his phone as he rounded the neighborhood:

Prudence dictates I pee before I spree.

Virtue bids me pray before I stray.
Commerce tells me pay before I cart away.

Wisdom says less joy in taking than giving,
more joy in wanting what I have
than in seeking what I want to have.

But those last two lines struck him as passive, maybe even slavish. How could revolutionary progress be made from such a stance? Racial justice? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Preservation of endangered species? Criminal justice, other kinds of justice…? He revised:

Prudence dictates I pee before I spree.

Virtue bids me pray before I stray.
Commerce tells me pay before I cart away.

Wisdom says more joy in giving than in taking,
more satisfaction, less guilt.

Caution counsels more joy in wanting what I have
than wanting what I haven’t.

Bravery charges to dare what’s possible,
what’s needed, what’s just.

Daring whispers sharper joys await
in fighting for your rights, more still
in fighting for the rights of others.

Time says first remember, then surrender.
Desire asks surrender? Rather be contender.

Love whispers give it all,
you’ll never fall.

Copyright © 2022 by Moristotle