“Diverting Attention Elsewhere”
I thought I was the only one
who was chastised
for answering the phone.
As if being kind to strangers,
helping clients,
working with partners,
and laughing politely with friends
were awful sins—
suitable for excommunication.
But there are those days...
when dressing up
implies ulterior motives,
smiling is the same as flirting,
relatives become enemies,
work is more important than home,
telephones cause jealousy,
arguments grow out of silence,
and comments are misread
no matter how they are said.
Those days
when you just can’t win.
When you can’t even promote
the business that supports you
without being accused of
diverting attention elsewhere.
Perhaps we have a deficiency,
a missing gene, something
that should have been clearly marked:
“Devotion, at the exclusion of all else.”
If the only solution is Patience,
then we’d better hope
that time is on our side.
At this point in life,
I’m tired of changing
myself
to suit others,
although I notice that I still do...
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