I stand here afterwards,
a bit bewildered —
The flames haven’t hurt me
and the smoke is clearing,
and it wasn’t exactly a battle . . .
I took a stand for innocence,
and it came under fire,
but what got singed was just
the guilty part I held within.
Unaltered was the call
to stand for innocence
and let no rising voice,
indignant, shocked, alarmed,
deflect my steady sight
of innocence inviolate —
every person’s right.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 8, 2013