Riot

After Acts 19

It’s always about money.

A word is spoken,

a message, a truth is spoken

   aloud and undressed, unspun,

   not explained away

   nor apologized for

and heard.

The untruth’s vested interest,

the merchant of the lie

objects, invents

a wrong to conceal,

to cover the interest,

like idols of silver,

and lost business becomes

a great worry becomes

a riot to smash

the truth, to smash

the word.

The word stands, however,

unbroken.

Illustration: Demetrius the silversmith stirs up a riot by Edward H. Courbould (1894).