They tell you to

Man up, to be valiant as a knight,

But what is courage, you ask to deaf ears, for they

Have been possessed, like pit bulls,

By the nearest fight.

Is courage the weak-kneed hunter

Who trembles, sweat tainting his resolve, at the sight

Of the distant lion’s yawning maw; who lurks in the shadows and

Lets his spear rust, wallowing in cowardly relief when the bullet,

A detestable assassin, slays the king in all his might.

Is courage the mindless boy who seeks to please

His crazed comrades, and who’s blind to the plight

Of the squirming octopus he furiously chews,

The tentacles writhing in agony. And all of Seoul

Cheers his passing of this manhood rite.

Is courage the hateful, smirking fisherman

Who holds aloft a young great white

Blood slowly dripping onto wooden planks as he crows of his

Purging of humanity’s bane, not knowing this oceanic guardian

Kills less than humanity’s bite.

Is courage the contemptible men who snarl

At all ranks of society, persistently itching to fight,

Who bring curled fists instead of words because

Their hate cannot coexist with compassionate beings

And seeks only to destroy and set this world alight.

Courage has become the language

Of arrogant and idiotic fools, a blight

Upon the hovel to where Peace has been condemned;

Its pure essence that was once held

In the utmost reverence has fled into the night.