They’re our stock in trade: <br />Persuasion; <br />Coercion; <br />Negotiation; <br />Compulsion – <br />We wield them all as weapons of war undeclared <br />Upon the eternal theatres of ‘Us and Them’ <br />And the only slightly smaller stages of ‘Me and You’; <br />Determinedly pushing back the other’s frontiers and frontlines <br />To where we would personally prefer them to be <br />In some spectacularly myopic perspective on reality <br />With attacking formations of Division-strength information, <br />Artillery bombardments of laser-guided arguments, <br />Platoons and dragoons of situational analysis <br />Designed to decimate and induce paralysis. <br /> <br />To every proposition a counter position, <br />For every suggestion a stock ‘No’ rejection, <br />Ever a ploy or a trump to be played, <br />Every inch of ground - a mile to be made; <br />And yet..... <br /> <br />If we ever would wish to take the peace dividend <br />Recall our forces, put this madness to an end, <br />What on earth could we hope to hold in common <br />With a foe whose injuries can’t be forgiven or forgotten....? <br /> <br />Stray a hairsbreadth from where you know your heart true <br />No matter what anyone would have you to do, <br />No matter how close or loved they may be <br />It’ll rankle and hurt you eventually, <br /> <br />And similarly..... <br /> <br />Try to think before you would seek to implore <br />Someone else, for your sake, to leave their own ‘shore’, <br />For they’re sure to leave something of themselves behind <br />Not the least of which, their peace of mind.<br /><br />Tony Jolley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hairsbreadth/
