He’s more than old enough now
to know better than to continue
tilting at windmills. People
don’t ever want to be told

anything, however directly
or indirectly, harshly or
sweetly, it is presented
— even posed as a question

for consideration. They
are always right, always,
and to have that questioned
is beyond verboten, absolutely

without a doubt. It is simply
an opportunity for Newton’s
Third Law of Motion — vehement
objections and fingers wagging

back in his direction. And so
we just smile at each other and
make nasty, behind the back,
attacks. Better to live in false

community and pseudo peace, so
his advice to himself is to
desist and cease and live in
his own separate peace and give

his emotions, spirit and body
a little rest, at the very least.
Perhaps he should join a monastery,
and like Merton, send missives

from the hermitage like “Confessions
of a Guilty Bystander,” and have
a notion to chant a Gregorian chant .

His wife might second that emotion.