Naked Knees (A Prayer) [poem]
May I never have my knees securely underneath
the fleeting table of this present world
(imagining it to be the only thing there is).
May I never live without a dream adventure
taking me to distant reaches way beyond
where I have ever been before
May I never follow spineless grey neutrality
but always with the utmost clarity
may I refuse to take the level easy way,
instead to walk on stony tree-lined unworn
bridalpaths where mediocrity and other
strange hypocrisies can have no sway
May I never blindly chase deluded dreams
become involved in others’ pointless schemes
but always act on what my heart finds fit and
never blind conform to peer group force or
follow only social norms or governments,
small perspectives, socially engineered directives
May I never compromise my choice of sacred art
but always wilfully refuse to waver or depart
from what I hold as precious to my soul
and never be manipulated through some guilt
and always have a broad-lipped inner smile —
refuse to do things just because of style
May I, when dead, be coolly found upon some
crazy dangerous ledge, the farthest hardest edge
or mountain-top or bubble-boiling molten rock.
But most of all may I refuse to be a clone —
integrity intact, uncompromised in fact
regretful only of the countless woely times
this man has been so foolishly sidetracked
© 2012, Alan Morrison
The Naked Troubadour 