Read Poem: The Tail of the Worm by Philip Brent Harris

Beneath the surface of the shadow,
Live the voices,
Who listen to the voices.
Ordinary people
Acting in extraordinary ways.
An unexamined life,
Ancient wisdom cautions,
Is not worth living.
Or is it,
An uncommitted life denies scrutiny?
To fully live
Requires a willingness to pay,
Pay a price, bear a burden, be brave.
Risk small deaths
Profit, position, status.
Be invisible, when visibility means
Escape to fun and fantasy,
Superficial stimulation,
Survival of the slickest.
Fly in the face of social norms.
Flaunt convention,
Unquestioned actions.
Strive to learn
What has always been
Is not
What always must be.
Risk reputation, risk dignity,
Risk safety, risk death, risk life.
Tell the truth, your truth
Bear witness to what you believe.
Bare your teeth to derision, division,
Supposition, superstition;
Deny the masks, spells, wards,
The idols to mammon,
The misanthropes and misers.
Refuse to be trampled
By the jackboots of…