Stand Your Ground

If you stand your ground,

Keeping, as St. Thomas taught, true to your nature--

Keeping yourself in being—

You will be excused by the law for killing, and

Admired by the public.

You will be thanked for playing on the stage,

For your part in the drama that fulfills them.

Stand your ground has brought out this truth:

Crime reporting is theater.
      We hear and see actors engaged in life:

Walking, running, stealing, loving, hurting.

The hearing and seeing,

As does the hearing and seeing

In a live theater or movie house

Arouses and satisfies us.

--July 16, 2013