Her innocence
Was immune to their dis ease
As be wilder
And a tempt
However tempered
Only to be
Dis missed
As just
A guile
His innocence
Deified awe bravery
In the face
Of accusations summoned
As subdude
As never a cur to them
Posing the quest in
Guise will
Be guise
Her bosom leaped
Skipping to a beat
As sir passingly chaste
Giving birth in maternal rapture
Nun the lass
Put out
By those racking up
Scorn points
holy to be allayed
His heart sang
As here the music
Faced
Temporal forces
Craven reseeding
To proper gate the race
Certifiably birthed
In a heil of ballads
Or castrating scores
Of bullet points
Writing
Him off
In tom foolery or gaiety
Sow
There it is
In a sense
Light as it may be
Worth the wait
Up till
Abated breath
This poem, an ode to innocence, addresses the default cynicism and mistrust in contemporary modern culture. Innocence is suspect. Original sin has much more effective branding than original blessing. The unguarded are as likely to be blamed for violations as violators. Plus, passionate living is often viewed as potentially dangerous. Freely following one's passions can often be inconvenient or unnerving to others who might prefer a more staid, predictable environment. Exercising freedom, by definition, limits the predictability available to those who live alongside you. Exercise freedom enough to challenge the socializing forces of any given culture and you can expect these forces to provide sanctions designed to exorcise your freedom. Shame and punishment is a poor trade for the inevitable vagaries of free and passionate living.
This poem, with alternating female and male subjects, also confronts gender roles and their over-sexualization, particularly of women. Hyper-sexualization is a major means of reducing free human beings to controllable objects, for the proper gating of the race. Viewing others as free subjects in a shared humanity rather than objects in a controlled environment is essential to the evolution of humanity.
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of innocence is the shame-free liberation it unleashes. As a child responds freshly to the world unfolding before them, harmony and positive change become more accessible. The maturity of experience can bring a disciplined freedom committed to an innocent wildness and natural generosity, even in the face of powerful shaming and sanctions bidding us to sell our freedom for a slice of the take. May you successfully dance circles around the forces of shaming and punishment, ever inviting others to joyfully join the dance of freedom.