how confidently a retired businessman told me I was wrong
how my political views were uneducated, naive and off-base
strongly, then loudly, then in my face
I’m not one to spend my evenings this way, arguing-arguing
I don’t even argue with my wife or teenage sons
life is so short, energies must be spent elsewhere
but the businessman continued building his 95 theses against me
how he knew!
my skewed foundational beliefs, an ignoramus!
ever stronger and ever louder
and I did not respond, as I was not given an opportunity
and I stopped listening, as his face flushed with emotion
thinking how the businessman was lost
at some point, he may have
stopped setting his naked eye to the dark craters of the morning moon
forgotten the more humbling vantage points
that guide away from certainty’s comforts
sifting here and now and us and paint-smeared cloudscapes
un-comprehend
    unlearn
        and gain gratitude’s heart
wake with a smile from a secret source
embedded in predisposition
he has lost his kindness and wisdom
not because he is right or wrong
but because he has blinded himself, as many have
to the quickly found shallow world
so he put me in a category of folks he has encountered before
and I did the same to him
neither of us the wiser
until I stood up in front of him and walked away as he was still ranting
bending over to pet a very friendly dog