Altering Egos

Because you think you know my soul?

At best, we are capable of love,
and then much less.
May kind intentions
be the breadth of our legacy,
for we fail whenever
you must strive to approve me.

I’m thinking about the institutions Americans create — specifically, those of government or our societal glue. We design them with good intent but then struggle to a dying breath to make them work. We’ve no clue of the line in the sand where our right to be an individual shall not be compromised.

That place where our identity should never be offended but always protected.

The place we say it’s okay to be you because it’s okay to be me.

Instead, the institutions become our weapons and shields in a public arena where we’re bound to be gladiators in mortal combat over private things.

Because you think you know my soul?

Ironically, this world of our creation.