POEM FOR SNOWDEN #1: LABABIDI

Crimes of Conscience

Each time we betray our conscience,

we strangle an angel.

Yet, it’s not at all certain

we’re allotted an infinite supply

of these winged pardons.

Unheeded pricks of conscience

soon become soul-skewering

So that paradise seems a hell

and one must betray luxury,

safety and fear to tell the truth

The only cowardice being silence

the only courage one’s convictions;

and allegiance to a higher state,

the only chance at purifying grace.

Yahia Lababidi is an Egyptian-American thinker, and Pushcart-nominated poet, whose work has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. To date, Lababidi is the author of 4 well-received books, in 4 different genres: Signposts to Elsewhere (aphorisms), Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Bellydancing (essays), Fever Dreams (poems) and most recently, The Artist as Mystic (conversations). His upcoming book, a collection of short poems, Barely There, will be available soon (Wipf and Stock). For more information, please visit his Amazon page: http://amzn.com/e/B0042SRQWG

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