Because You Do Not Know How To Say Yes.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

do not make a conclusion that you are wrong
or that you are inferior

you know best who you are, keep thinking,

when you were rejected
by whose standards?
and under what circumstances?
yes, theirs, and their
network of evil influences
this company incorporated
a root system of cajolery
and mediocrity


keep that dignity, do not expect, do not demand,
stay what you are, you know best who you are

your nights have been days, your craft well honed by sacrifices,
you have been an expert listener and talker to yourself
you have mastered right from wrong, you have fathomed the
code of silence, the ethics of your profession

your efforts since when must be rewarded?
ah, you started so young to be disciplined
you shy away from shallowness, embraced the loneliness of time
burning hair with your candles, whetting what is metallic and
glossing over the gold that is found in you
you are a true value, an epitome of virtue,
the ripe fruit of the grape vine,
the moon on the river.

ah, they are mud, and how can they ever like the true pearl
the nugget of gold beneath their stinking waters?

now do not blame yourself,
you are the best,
the true winner of this
game,
they all have their friends,
they are drunk with their lies and power,
they had their secret meetings and their talks
they have the strings of the marionettes in their hands
they are garbage on the cans

they will tell the truth....
you could have won
you are the best,
but you just don't know how to say yes
too all of them.