Self-Control

We can’t control
what somebody insists on telling
and cannot, like God,
easily determine what’s true;

do not jump
to immediate conclusions
or blot out names
from lists of persons we trust;

most of all restrain
our unflagging hunger for gossip;
as to contradictions,
accept them simply as fact

and, so, entrust
truth to future generations
or assume that rust
is proved to deem inevitable;

most of all, stay calm,
aware that death and falsehood
are facts of life:
most prominent in the human context…

and the most expensive.