Contrary to popular lore
(I must remind myself)
fearlessness is not irresponsible

I am not required
to file dutifully
through the ugly predictions,
the “realistic” expectations
which have nothing to do,
ever or finally,
with the substance of what we are

It is not irresponsible
to be unimpressed, to be uncowed,
to know the fire within us
is far greater
than what might come to take us out,
that they which be with us
(the Spirit and the Life)
are more than anything that seeks
to them us in.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 14, 2022