I Did My Best

I’d like to think that

I did my best would be enough in a

world so full of conflicting stories

and the dead art of just believing,

yet even setting up this idea

of a compassionate thought is

tugged down by the weight of prior

teaching: how I and everyone else

should be thankful for the given and

guidance prevailing in our

home towns or more universal

touchstones, as if the rule book

on living has pages turning long before

your fingers feel parchment on flesh.