I will not give up, because,
in the matter of allegiance,
I give myself to one thing or another,
and giving up means giving in
to that which doesn’t care a whit
for me, or who or what I am

I will not give up.
Either my daily service
is to life, and joy, and all I love,
or I’ve bowed down to the enslaver,
the thrice removed from mindfulness
insertion of a clause designed
to hide what’s true and right
about my being

That argument
is as old as time,
but my being is eternal.It was here before,
and it will be here far beyond
the scope of self-important petty rules

Under whatever guise,
whatever seeks to hide
the brightness my desire shows me to be,
however boastful are its claims
or how official sound its names,
it has no foothold for constraining me.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 16, 2021