You told me once my paranoia was
No safeguard that they do not speak my ill.
Some people hate me, this is true because
I am not them, they are not me and still
We can but live in this small world entwined
So how to stop the stranger fearing me;
The strange for them, to me, myself defined.
To take their grievance and to disagree.
But then the faceless mob of one mind preys
Upon my many failures and my faults
Condemns in silent fictions all my ways,
And I am without a voice that exalts.
I will, at last, alone and undone be,
No trial and no justice will I see.
But then arise a visaged bloc to fight
On my behalf with unasked truths declare
My gift and worth however small or slight.
My witnesses and my defence that swear
To tell my whole truth and speak nothing but,
Still stand unmoved before me in support
Despite my failures and my faults that shut
Out tributes, unwanted ways to extort.
For strange I am but just as strange as them
And God is stranger still and shunned me not.
Their grievance now unable to condemn,
For he agrees that my sins are forgot.
Their praises and their quibbles are all one
As God looks upon me and sees his son.
Written on 2nd January 2020.