there's always an off-ramp
when the challenges of life
the demands of integrity
of truth, of justice and peace
compassion and  mercy
seem too great, all too much
there's always a way out

but get-out clauses
come with a price tag
a cost I cannot escape
who I am, my self-respect
when I look myself in the eye
saying nothing of the impact
on others of my choices

I can tell myself lies
polish the masque I hide behind
repeat those distortions to others
keep burnishing the public image
but no way can I ever evade
the mirror-test, the judgement
what lies beneath my facade

there is another choice
no way out, the way through
to hold course, weather the storm
look challenge in the eye, even my failures
ever in the valley of the shadow of death
for there will always be deaths
the little ones, the big one

we may make harbour
somewhat battered, broken
even rescued from the rocks
of our own making, other's devising
but never alone, for sharing the voyage
the storm-rider who's light we follow
and voice calls us home

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
12th April 2025
following Psalm 23