Untitled .. For Now

I'm not an “ism”, or an “ist” or an “ite”

Sometimes I might be in the middle

On the left or on the right

Some may on occasion extol me

Others try to pigeon-hole me

And tell me that “the Bible

Told me so”

They've figured out

What I'm about

What they don't know

They assume somehow

Well, I'm not a category or cause

Or a commodity

I'm a man

As simple and as confounding as any other

If you must insist on labels

Put 'em on cans

Don't put 'em on me

Don't put 'em on people

For when you do

Before too long you'll discover

You took the easy way out

Not takin' time to listen or pay attention

Or understand or go walkin' in their shoes

Let me ask you, friend ...

Have you been where I have been?

Seen what I have seen?

Learned what I have learned

Spent the time I spent

Playin' pick and choose

By findin' what to keep

And what to lose?

No, you haven't but neither have I

Been there to wipe away the tears that you cry

When you sat there lonely

When you had to say good-bye

Or been there to answer you

When you wondered how long or why

Nobody that walks this earth is either a this or a that

Just a Republican, Just a Democrat

The sooner we all get a hold of

And learn to respect

Thatwe're all walking contradictions

Much more than charts and diagrams

No indeed, we're much more complex

So let be me and I'll let you be you

Like Paul said, “Let It Be”

That's the least that we can do

Love your neighbor as themselves

Don't say they've got to be

Somebody else

Allow them to be

As free as you as wanna be

For Christ's sake

(And I mean it in the truest sense )

Then and only then

Can we begin to celebrate His love

For all humanity

George Gagliardi, July 2020