Poem: Dove to Serpent

"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."  ~ Matthew 10:16

Dove --> Serpent

I never was the crafty type

who plots the ruin of my foes

It just isn’t my style to snipe

at people who I hardly know

Why should I try to bring them down?

The point is not, I think, to “win”

I have no interest in renown

and why, then, should I also sin?

But meekness comes at quite a cost

It paints a bullseye on your back

Around you, those whose souls are lost

will find you easy to attack

In time, I’ve learned to guard myself

and not expose myself too much

so that I won’t be harmed or felled

by gossips, tattlers, liars and such

It’s one thing to attack a person—

—quite another to defend

your image, lest attacks should worsen

as your critics seek your end

It isn’t wrong to use your wit

to thwart the schemes of sinful men

To forgive doesn’t mean forget

so keep a thorough record penned

Who knows in what capacity

your useful info shall arise?

Deny them their pugnacity

Let them look foolish in their eyes

Cowards are a lazy sort

and when they come against a wall

it does their prideful view distort

They cannot handle it at all

You’ll stop most in their tracks, but others

might return with hotter flames

so take this ad-vice from a Brother

and be prepared to play the game.

The juggling act of Christian heads

is knowing when to stand and fight

and when you should refrain, instead,

receiving darkness, ‘turning light

I’ll never be naïve again

—it’s something you don’t stay for long—

but when this story sees its end

I pray I didn’t do it wrong

That, in my efforts not to be

a victim of the schemes of man

I didn’t let the heart of me

return to end where it began.

~ Rak Chazak