An oath

In a day and age
where time and space
have gone beyond grace
where peaceful night,
refreshing dawn
are but oxymoron
I make an oath with you
beside me
despite the difference
in what we hear and see
we’ll be for each other
here and there, everywhere.

I will not be like you,
You won’t be like me,
Yet we can live together
In quiet harmony.

We may be lovers true,
Or neighbors passing by,
Or family at the table
Beneath the same wide sky. 

Our habits and our tastes,
Our faiths, our ways of speech,
The roads on which we wander
May lie far out of reach.

Yet still we make this promise,
However we may part:
We will not wound each other,
Nor break another’s heart.

We may debate and differ,
Our thoughts may disagree,
But words will not be weapons
Across this human sea. 

We’ll keep the strength within us,
The courage to stay wise,
When anger fills the streets
And madness floods the skies. 

If all the world grows smaller,
If reason fades away,
We will not walk like fools—
We’ll choose a kinder way.