talk about anger

talk about anger

your anger
when I refuse it

my anger
with your face
mirrored in it

this is what it does

fills the heart with hubris
calls it pride

sets everything at odds
brings no peace

wrangling offence
stoking outrage
with burning fury

thrusting out the jaw
till the eyes are blinded
by the fear of being wrong

throwing out the chest
eyes blazing with the light
of being right

your anger and mine

waves on a shore
washing round our feet
windswept and uncertain
for the time it takes the tide to turn
or the sun to set on our stupidity

as if later in any dawn
an ocean of rage might appear
different in daylight

or else be nothing but tired swell
another sea with no horizon

© BH, 2018

---

If I recall, it was a spat with someone rather prejudiced on Facebook. I’m not given to challenge usually - I let peoples’ different views go, as a rule. But this time it annoyed me. It was originally about the Brexit and the EU - taking back control - but underneath was a strand of anti-immigration sentiment based on rhetoric rather than fact. It got heated. In my view it verged on xenophobic. 

So there it was. Anger. As useless an emotion as you can find. It gets you up and doing, fists blazing, eyes clenched. Bob’s your uncle and in one bound you’re free! Smarting, uptight and waiting for the bell for round two. Resolves bugger all, IMHO.