Sunday, April 29, 2012

THE SKEPTIC


Editor's note: "My father trusted everybody," Dad wrote as the introduction to this poem. "That's why we didn't have a pot to boil potatoes in, as the saying goes."


I don't suppose there's anyone
More skeptical than me.
I don't believe a word I hear,
And half of what I see.


I'd like to have the feeling
I could trust my fellow man,
But history's proven different
Ever since the world began.


I realize that maybe
I'm a skeptic to a fault,
But most of what I read or hear,
I take with a grain of salt.


It's not that I think everyone
Can look you in the eye,
With his right hand on the Bible,
And tell a bare-faced lie;


But, from my past experience,
I'd say that quite a few
Would likely do that very thing,
And cheat a little, too.


So, though I try the best I can
To treat all men as brothers,
My motto is, "In God I trust,
But be wary with all others!"
Hominy Grits (1986)

No comments:

Post a Comment