We will stop seeing ourselves
as creatures of prohibition,
the ones who see themselves confined
within the narrow lines
of what’s allowed

And we will not play out
the acts of prohibition —
the tearing down, denying
and forbidding

We will understand
that the great dominion
has never been destruction,
that intelligence has a greater work

And that the building up of anything,
a life, a town, a cause,
must use the tools of life,
allowing everything
to tumble forth and thrive,
and in its living find its integration,
teem, and be itself, and be alive.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 26, 2014