Can you be distracted by the critic
  or the public acclaim

Can you see through the fire
  and renew all that’s burned

Can you look past the signposts
  and those messages fixed

Can your heart stay undamaged
  as the world tempts your soul

Can you run through loud voices
  with yours still unspoken

Can you make it to tomorrow
  without leaving today

Can you give love to those hateful
  with vengeance recalled

Can you carry your grandfather’s words
  into the land of the unborn

Can you hang up your spear
  inside the enemy camp

Can you live to see the beginning
  and the end die at last

Can your voice remain pure
  neither bartered nor loaned

Can you listen through the smoke
   —for a melody unsung

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)