Phyllis Nissila

To those…

Who think we’re stupid,

Who think we’re duped,

Who think we’re lesser than,

Who think we’re fodder for the fuel,

Who think we’re the unwashed masses

To use, abuse, and discard:

We may appear to be weak, vulnerable, pliant,

But there is a strength of which you know nothing

In your white-washed towers

Assuming immunity, impunity,

With boldness and conceit

Sneering and peering

At us

Through your tunnel vision

Of presumption.

What you don’t know

Is that although evil slams, shoves,

Suppresses

Goodness is the real power,

The only power

That creates and heals and grows and thrives

And overcomes and conquers

One heart and mind

At a time

In places

You

Cannot reach.

It’s the lessons of strength

Learned by the seeming weak

Who phoenix themselves out of the ashes

Of evil and,

At length,

Crush the bones

Of oppression,

In quiet

Powerful ways

Of righteousness, wisdom

And compassion;

It is they who,

At length,

Stop the cries

Of real injustice,

Still the fray…

And bind the wounds.

Even before they rise full.

Of this you know nothing,

But you will, at length, learn.

Study the history books.

Nothing evil thrives for long

Before burning itself out,

Falling on its own sword,

Miscalculating

In blinding

Arrogance.

Study the history books

And the Good Book.

Look around.

It’s only a matter of time

Before goodness

Once again

Rises

And you

Fall.

Unless you choose

A heart change.

If it’s not

Too late.

***

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phoenix_rising_from_its_ashes.jpg